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HISTORY 

OP  TBI 

MOORISH  EMPIRE  IN  EUROPE 


HISTORY 


OF  THE 


Moorish  Empire 

IN    EUROPE 

BY 

S.  p.  SCOTT 

AUTHOR   OF   "THROUGH   SPAIN" 


Corduba  famon  locuples  de  nomine  dicta, 
Inclyta  delicib,  rebus  quoque  iplendida  cunctis 

Hroswitha,  pAsno  S.  Pilaou 


IN  THREE  VOLUMES 
VOL.  III. 


PHILADELPHIA  tf  LONDON 

J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT    COMPANY 

1904 


4iK-^ 


Suat,  373  I 


M 
^ 


Conmittoe  on  the  Karv?/r!  vt  '  .^3 
NfiR-residetit  %\mi\  i^ostor 
SEP       1941 

Copyright,  1904 
By  J.  B.  LipPiNCOTT  Company 

Published  March,  1904 


Printed  hy  J.  S.  Lippincott  Company ^  PkUadelphia,  U.  S.  A* 


CONTENTS    OF    VOLUME    III. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

IKFLUXKCB  OF  THX  MOOR8  OK  SUROPB  THROUGH  THE  BMPIRS  OF 

FREDERICK   IL   AND   THE   STATES   OF   SOUTHERN   FRANCE 

FAGS 

Permanence  of  Arab  Ideas  in  the  South  of  Europe — Social 
Corruption — Revolts  against  the  Papacy — ^Antagonism 
of  the  Holy  See  and  the  German  Empire — Consolida- 
tion of  the  Papal  Power  under  Innocent  III. — Civi- 
lizing Agencies  in  Sicily— Influence  of  the  Normans 
as  Heirs  of  the  Arabs — ^Birth  of  Frederick  II, — Char- 
acter of  Innocent  III. — Genius  of  the  Emperor — ^His 
Reforms  —  System  of  Jurisprudence  —  Commerce  -^ 
*  Legislation  —  The  University  of  Naples  —  The  Medi- 
cal School  of  Salerno— Character  of  Frederick — His 
Court— The  South  of  France— Its  Early  Civilization 
—  Cosmopolitan  Character  of  its  Population  •— Its 
Wealthy  Intelligenoe^  and  Profligacy — Debased  Con- 
dition of  the  Clergy — ^The  University  of  Montpellier 
—The  Troubadours— The  Albigense»— Their  Defiance 
of  Rome — A  Crusade  is  preached  against  Them — ^They 
are  annihilated  —  Cruelty  of  the  Crusaders  —  Parallel 
between  the  Civilization  of  Sicily  and  Languedoc  — 
Survival  of  the  Philosophical  Principles  and  OpinionB 
of  the  Thirteenth  Century 1 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

THE    SPANISH    JEWS 

Influence  of  the  Semitic  Race  on  Civilization — Enterprise  of 
the  Ancient  Jews  —  Their  Eminent  Talents  —  Their 
Power  during  the  Middle  Ages — ^Their  Universal  Pro- 
scription— Their  Condition  under  the  Moors  of  Spain 
—  Their  Extraordinary  Attainments  —  Their  Devotion 
to  Letters — ^Their  Academies — ^Rabbis  as  Ambassadors 
of  the  Ehalifs  —  Learned   Men  —  Poets^   Physicians, 

V 


vi  Contents  of  Volume  III. 


Statesmen^  Philosophers  —  Maimonides:  His  Genius 
and  His  Works — His  Character — Preponderating  In- 
fluence of  the  Spanish  Jews  in  Government  and  Society 
—  Their  Necessity  to  the  Ruling  Classes  —  They  are 
driven  to  Usury — ^Their  Prosperity — They  are  favored 
by  Alfonso  X.  and  Pedro  el  Cruel — Their  Proficiency 
in  Medicine  —  Obligations  of  Mediaeval  and  Modern 
Science  to  the  Jews — Their  Wonderful  Survival  under 
Oppression  —  Their  Exile  from  the  Peninsula  —  Their 
Sufferings — ^The  Taint  of  Hebrew  Blood  in  the  Aris- 
tocracy of  Spain  and  Portugal 105 

CHAPTER   XXV 

THX   CHRISTIANS  XTMUBR  M08LBM   RULB 

Scarcity  of  Information  concerning  the  Tributary  Chris- 
tians— Supremacy  of  the  Church  under  the  Visigoths — 
Independence  of  the  Spanish  Hierarchy — Its  Wealth 
— CiviL  Organization  of  the  Christians  under  the  Moors 
— Their'  Privileges — Restrictions  imposed  upon  Them 
— Freedom  of  Worship — Churches,  Monasteries,  and 
Convents  —  Conditions  in  Sicily  —  Greater  Severity  of 
the  Laws  in  that  Island — ^Anomaly  in  the  Ecclesiasti- 
cal Government  of  Spain  —  The  Khalif  the  Virtual 
Head  of  the  Church — ^Abuse  of  His  Power — Results  of 
the  Arab  Occupation  of  Septimania  —  Increased  Au- 
thority of  the  Spanish  Hierarchy  resulting  from  its 
Isolation — Social  Life  of  the  Christian  Tributaries — 
Their  Devotion  to  Arab  Learning  —  They  are  em- 
ployed by  the  Khalifs  in  Important  Missions — Innate 
Hostility  of  Moslem  and  Christian — Number  and  In- 
fluence of  the  Renegades — ^The  Martyrs — Causes  of 
Persecution — Contrast  between  the  Maxims  and  Policy 
of  the  Two  Religions — Impediments  to  Racial  Amal- 
gamation       177 

CHAPTER   XXVI 

THE   M0RI8COSS 

State  of  the  Kingdom  after  the  Conquest — Superiority  of 
the  Moors — Policy  of  the  Crown — Introduction  of  the 
Holy  Office — Administration  of  Talavera — His  Popu- 


Contents  of  Volume  III.  vii 


laritj — ^Hc  is  superseded  by  Ximenes — The  Two  Great 
Spanish  Cardinals — ^Their  Opposite  Characters — In- 
fluence on  Their  Age — ^Violence  of  Ximenes — ^He  bums 
the  Arabic  Manuscripts — Insurrection  of  the  Moriscoes 
— Rout  in  the  Sierra  Bermeja — Bigotry  of  Isabella — 
The  Moors  under  Charles  V.  —  Persecution  by  the 
Clergy  and  the  Inquisition  under  Philip  II. — ^War  in 
the  Alpuj  arras  —  Ibn-Ommeyah  —  Operations  of  Don 
John  of  Austria — Removal  of  the  Moors  of  Granada 
— Death  of  Ibn-Ommeyah — Ibn-Abu  becomes  King — 
Siege  of  Galera — ^Atrocities  of  the  Campaign — Fate  of 
Ibn-Abu — Condition  of  the  Moriscoes  in  Spain — ^They 
are  ExUed  by  Philip  III.— Their  Sufferings— Effect 
of  their  Banishment  upon  the  Prosperity  of  the  King- 
dom     '. 218 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

CttNERAL    CONDITION    OF    XUROPB    FROM    THB    YIIL    TO    THE    ZVL 

CBNTURT 

Effects  of  Barbarian  Supremacy  on  the  Nations  of  Europe 
— Rise  of  the  Papal  Power — Character  of  the  Popes 

—  Their  Vices  and  Crimes  —  The  Interdict  —  Corrupt 
Practices  of  Prelates  and  Degradation  of  the  Papacy 

—  Institution  of  the  Monastic  Orders  —  Their  Great 
Influence  —  Their  Final  Degeneracy  —  Wealth  of  the 
Religious  Houses — The  Byzantine  System — Its  Char- 
acteristics— Power  of  the  Eunuchs — Splendor  of  Con- 
stantinople— Destruction  of  Learning — Debased  Con- 
dition of  the  Greeks — ^The  People  of  Western  Europe 
— ^Tyranny  of  Caste  and  its  Effects — Feudal  Oppres- 
sion— Life  of  the  Noble — His  Amusements — ^The  Serf 
and  his  Degradation — His  Hopeless  Existence — ^Treat- 
ment of  the  Jews — Prevalence  of  Epidemics — Religious 
Festivals — General  Ignorance — Scarcity  and  Value  of 
Books — Persecution  of  Learning — ^The  Empire  of  the  • 
Church — Its  Extraordinary  Vitality dSi 


viii  Contents  of  Volume  III. 

CHAPTER   XXVIII 

THB   HI8PANO-ARAB   AOB   OF   LITXRATURX   AND  8CISNCB 

PAOX 

Intellectual  Stagnation  of  Europe  during  the   Period  of 
Moslem  Greatness — High  Rank  of  Scholars  in  Spain 

—  Attainments  of  the  Khalifs  —  Character  of  Arab 
Literature  —  Progress  of  Science  —  The  Alexandrian 
Museum — Its  Wonderful  Discoveries — Its  Contributions 
to  Learning — Its  Influence  on  the  Career  of  the  Moham- 
medans— The  Arabic  Language — Poetry  of  the  Arabs 

—  Its  General  Characteristics  —  Theology  and  Juris- 
prudence —  History  —  Geography  —  Philosophy  — . 
Libraries  —  Rationalism  —  Averroes  —  Mathematics 

—  Astronomy —  Al-Hazen  —  Gerbert  —  Botany  — 
Alchemy — Chemistry — Pharmacy — ^Albertus  Magnus, 
Robert  Grossetete,  and  Roger  Bacon — Medicine  and 
Surgery  —  Ignorance  of  their  Theories  and  Scientific 
Application  in  Medieval  Europe  —  Prevalence  'of  Im- 
posture— Fatality  of  Epidemics — Great  Advance  of  the 
Arabs  in  Medical  Knowledge — ^Hospitals — Treatment 
of  Various  Diseases  —  The  Famous  Moslem  Practi- 
tioners— Contrast  between  the  Christian  and  Moham- 
medan Systems — Enduring  Effects  of  Arab  Science — 
Ita  Example  and  Benefits  the  Creative  Influence  of 
Modem  Civilization 429 

CHAPTER   XXIX 

MOORISH   ART   IN    SOUTHERN   BUROPB 

Absolute  Ignorance  of  Art  among  the  Original  Arabs  — 
Their  Debt  to  Antiquity— Their  Early  Architecture— 
.  Materials — Massive  Character  of  the  First  Edifices  of 
the  Moslems — ^The  Horseshoe  Arch — Its  Phallic  Deri- 
vation—  Progress  of  Artistic  Embellishment  —  Its 
Wonderful  Diversity — Byzantine  Influence — Employ- 
ment of  Encaustic  Tiles — Mosaics  of  the  Mosque  of 
'  Cordova  —  Stuccoes  —  Their  Composition  and  Infinite 
Variety  of  Form — Stalactitic  Pendentives — ^Woodwork 

—  Its  Beautiful  and  Intricate  Designs  —  Disappear- 
ance of  Arabic  Architectural  Monuments  in  Sicily — 
Military  Structures  of  Mohammedan  Spain  —  Typical 
Form  of  the  Mosque — Its  Hebrew  Origiii — ^Manifold 


Contents  of  Volume  III.  iz 

PAOB 

Derivation  of  Hispano-Arab  Architecture  —  Devdop- 
meiit  of  Art  in  Moorish  Spain — Its  Three  Epochs — 
The  Alhambra  its  Culmination  —  Representation  of 
Animal  Forms — Painting  and  Sculpture — Mural  Dec- 
oration— ^The  Industrial  Arts — ^Working  of  Metals — 
Arms  —  Engraved  Gems  —  Ceramics  —  The  Leathern 
Tapestry  of  Cordova  —  Tesriile  Fabrics  —  Calligraphy 
'and  Illumination — Destruction  of  the  Artistic  Remains 
of  the  Moors , 5S4 

CHAPTER   XXX 

AOBICULTURX^  MANUFACTURXS^  AND  COMMSRCB  OF  THK  BUROPSAN 
MOSLEMS;     THBZR  MANNERS,   CUSTOMS,  AND   AMU8BMBNTS 

Disappearance  of  the  Memorials  of  Arab  Civilization — 
Agricultural  System  of  the  Spanish  Moors — Its  Won- 
derful Perfection  —  Irrigating  Apparatus  —  The  Tri- 
bunal of  the  Waters — The  Work  of  Ibn-al-Awam— 
Universal  Cultivation  of  the  Soil — Mineral  Resources 
of  the  Peninsula — Manufactures — ^The  Great  Moslem 
Emporiums  of  the  Mediterranean — Commerce — Its  Ex- 
tensive Ramifications — ^Articles  of  Traffic — Commercial 
Prosperity  of  Sicily  —  The  Magnetic  Needle  —  Gun- 
powder and  Artillery — ^War — Coinage — Characteristics 
of  the  Khalif  s  —  Demoralisation  of  the  People  —  The 
Bath — General  Prevalence  of  Superstition — Social  Life 
of  the  Moslems  of  Europe  —  Privileges  of  Women  — 
Polygamy  and  Morals — Slavery — ^Amusements — ^The 
Game  of  Chess — Other  Pastimes — ^Dances — Music — 
Equestrian  Sports  — The  Bull  Fight  — The  TUt  of 
Reeds — ^The  Course  of  the  Rings — Hawking — Pecu- 
liarities of  Hispano-Arab  Civilization — ^The  Crusades 
— ^Their  Effect  on  Christendom— Unrivalled  Achieve- 
ments of  the  Moors  in  Europe — Conclusion HQii 


Dudley  Hall  UBRikRf 
HISTORY 


OF   THE 


MOORISH    EMPIRE   IN   EUROPE 
CHAPTER   XXIII 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  MOOES  ON  EUKOPE  THROUGH 
THE  EMPIBE  OF  FBEDERICK  II,  AND  THE  STATES  OF 
SOUTHERN  TRANCE 

-  1194-1250 

Permanence  of  Arab  Ideas  in  the  South  of  Europe — Social  Cor- 
ruption— Revolts  against  the  Papacy — ^Antagonism  of  the 
Holy  See  and  the  German  Empire— Consolidation  of  the 
Papal  Power  under  Innocent  III. — Civilizing  Agencies  in 
Sicily — Influence  of  the  Normans  as  Heirs  of  the  Arabs — 
Birth  of  Frederick  II. — Character  of  Innocent  III. — Genius 
of  the  Emperor — His  Reforms — System  of  Jurisprudence — 
Commerce — Legislation — ^The  University  of  Naples — The 
Medical  School  of  Salerno — Character  of  Frederick — His 
Court — ^The  South  of  France — Its  Early  Civilization — Cos- 
mopolitan Character  of  its  Population — Its  Wealth,  Intelli- 
gence, and  Profligacy — Debased  Condition  of  the  Clergy — 
The  University  of  Montpellier— The  Troubadours — The  Al- 
bigenses — Their  Defiance  of  Rome — ^A  Crusade  is  preached 
against  Them — They  are  annihilated — Cruelty  of  the  Cru- 
saders— Parallel  between  the  Civilization  of  Sicily  and 
Languedoc — Survival  of  the  Philosophical  Principles  and 
Opinions  of  the  Thirteenth  Century. 

The  extraordinary  impulse  to  scientific  investiga- 
tion, to  historical  research,  to  the  development  and 
perfection  of  the  industrial  arts,  to  the  extension  of 

commerce,  to  the  improvement  of  the  social  and  eco- 
Vpju  III.— 1 


2  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

nomic  conditions  which  are  so  intimately  connected 
with  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  mankind,  imparted 
by  the  Saracen  kingdoms  of  Southern  Europe,  was 
far  from  being  destroyed  by  the  absorption  or  con- 
quest of  their  provinces  or  by  the  final  extinction  of 
their  empire.  The  progress  of  their  humanizing  in- 
fluence upon  other  nations  had  been  slow  and  im- 
perceptible. The  philosophical  ideas  and  principles 
advanced  by  the  Arab  universities  were  necessarily 
hostile  to  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  to  the  opinions 
of  the  Fathers,  to  the  inspiration  of  an  infallible 
Pope,  to  the  imperious  claims  of  ecclesiastical  suprem- 
acy. In  consequence  of  their  heretical  tendency,  they 
were  perused  in  secret;  and  the  diligence  with  which 
this  prohibited  literature  was  studied  is  revealed  by 
the  number  of  sects  which  arose,  and  the  defiance  of 
Papal  authority,  which  is  the  distinguishing  charac- 
teristic of  European  annals  during  the  first  half  of 
the  thirteenth  century.  The  doctrines  taught  at  Cor- 
dova and  Palermo  inspired  those  audacious  mediaeval 
reformers,  far  in  advance  of  their  age,  whose  aspira- 
tions for  intellectual  and  religious  liberty  were 
promptly  and  mercilessly  extinguished  at  the  stake 
and  on  the  scaffold.  The  spirit  of  resistance  to  Papal 
aggression,  corruption,  and  tyranny,  temporarily 
checked,  in  time  revived,  and  foimd  permanent  ex- 
pression in  the  bold  and  revolutionary  theories  of  the 
Reformation.  These  great  and  radical  changes  were 
not  spontaneously  effected;  the  causes  of  their  de- 
velopment had  been  in  silent  operation  for  many 
centuries. 

The  schools  of  Moslem  Spain  and  Sicily  had  long 
been  the  resort  of  students,  ambitious  of  literary 
attainments  and  distinction,  from  every  country  in 
Europe.  Princes  of  Castile  and  France  had  for 
generations  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  the  educational 
Advantages  tp  be  obtained  in  the  Spanish  Peninsula. 


MooEiSH  Empibe  in  Eubope  8 

The  proximity  of  the  polished  and  luxurious  towns 
of  Sicily  to  the  ancient  seat  of  Roman  greatness 
and  power  had  produced  a  corresponding  effect,  less 
evident  and  less  durable,  it  is  true,  but  still  most  civil- 
izing and  beneficial,  upon  the  ferocious  barbarism 
which  had  succeeded  the  cruel  and  shameless  vices 
of  the  Caesars.  The  sacerdotal  order  had  profited 
more  largely  than  all  others  by  the  learning  of  the 
Mohammedans.  Pope  Sylvester  II.,  the  most  ac- 
complished ecclesiastic  of  his  time,  whose  prodigious 
acquirements  caused  him  to  be  accused  of  sorcery 
and  led  to  his  assassination  by  poison,  was  educated 
at  the  University  of  Cordova.  Roger  Bacon,  another 
reputed  wizard,  had  deeply  imbibed  the  heretical  but 
fascinating  opinions  of  the  sages  of  the  Tagus  and 
the  Guadalquivir.  In  almost  every  Eiu'opean  monas- 
tery, whose  inmates,  corrupted  by  wealth  and  de- 
praved by  sensual  indulgence,  had  abandoned  the 
ascetic  habits  of  the  cloister,  the  infidel  works  of  the 
Arabian  philosophers  were  studied  with  curiosity  and 
deUght  by  jovial  monks,  long  strangers  to  the  vows 
inculcated  as  cardinal  precepts  by  the  regulations  of 
their  order. 

With  the  secular  clergy,  whose  ostentatious  luxury 
was  proverbial,  the  case  was  even  worse.  While  con- 
siderations of  policy  and  self-interest  prevented  the 
avowal  of  principles  totally  at  variance  with  the  tenets 
of  their  profession,  the  fact  that  those  principles  were 
entertained  was  far  from  being  a  secret.  The  influ- 
ential prelates  of  the  Church,  ignorant  or  heedless  of 
the  prejudicial  effects  which  must  inevitably  ensue 
from  familiarity  with  the  works  of  the  Moslem  phi- 
losophers, did  not  vigorously  attempt  to  suppress  them 
until  the  mischief  they  had  produced  was  almost 
irreparable.  The  unbelief  and  moral  obliquity  of 
the  clergy  reacted  upon  their  flocks.  The  latter  saw 
— ^first  with  surprise,  then  with  indifference — ^the  ill- 


4  History  of  the 

concealed  skepticism  and  open  immorality  of  their 
spiritual  comisellors.  As  a  result  of  this  lax  and  in- 
consistent behavior,  society  became  permeated  with 
hjrpocrisy.  The  popular  tales  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
many  of  them  imdoubtedly  founded  on  fact,  indicate 
only  too  plainly  the  estimation  in  which  the  clergy 
were  held  by  the  people.  That  such  pictures  of  eccle- 
siastical life  could  be  drawn  and  published  without 
interference  or  pimishment  shows  not  only  the  extent 
of  the  evil,  but  the  recognition  of  its  existence  by  every 
class  of  the  community.  The  licentious  stories  of  the 
mediaeval  writers  were  read  or  repeated  with  delight 
both  in  the  palace  of  the  noble  and  the  hovel  of  the 
serf.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  these  collections 
owes  its  origin  to  the  patronage  of  Louis  XI.,  the 
Most  Christian  King  of  France. 

Although  the  clergy,  and  especially  the  members 
of  the  monastic  orders,  were,  in  these  facetious  pro- 
ductions, uniformly  represented  as  objects  of  hatred 
and  contempt,  the  practice  of  the  vices  and  weak- 
nesses imputed  to  them  was  evidently  so  common  to 
their  calling  as  not  even  to  arouse  those  feelings  of 
resentment  which  would  naturally  arise  from  accusa- 
tions so  nearly  affecting  their  piety  and  virtue.  So 
little  attention,  indeed,  was  paid  to  these  disclosures 
of  the  habits  of  ecclesiastics,  that  their  recital  formed 
one  of  the  ordinary  diversions  of  conventual  life, 
and  the  Gesta  Romanorum,  which  long  maintained 
a  questionable  celebrity,  is  a  monkish  compilation. 
When  the  spiritual  guides  of  a  community  are 
deliberately  held  up  to  ridicule  as  the  incarnation  of 
all  that  is  vile,  rapacious,  and  bestial,  their  usefulness 
as  directors  of  the  public  conscience  and  arbiters  of 
private  morals  is  at  an  end.  Their  pernicious  example 
was  not  lost  upon  the  people,  although  their  influence 
for  good  declined.  Universal  corruption  became  the 
most  prominent  trait  of  every  rank  of  society.    The 


MooEiSH  Empibe  in  Eueope  5 

most  glaring  acts  of  impiety  remained  imrebuked. 
National  faith,  and  personal  obligations  were  alike 
miblushingly  violated.  Every  revolting  crime  was 
committed  by  those  whose  means  were  sufficient  to 
appease  sacerdotal  venality  and  purchase  temporary 
absolution.  No  epoch  in  European  history  presents 
a  more  distressii^g  picture  of  social  demoraliza- 
tion, of  royal  perfidy,  of  priestly  hypocrisy,  of  uni- 
versal wickedness,  than  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries.  But  while  this  condition  of  affairs  was 
productive  of  widespread  moral  debasement,  it  was 
not  wholly  an  unmixed  evil.  The  weakening  of  the 
sentiments  of  fatuous  reverence  with  which  things 
denominated  sacred  had  for  ages  been  regarded, 
awakened  among  the  masses  a  spirit  of  intellectual 
independence.  The  right  of  the  exercise  of  private 
judgment  began  to  be  first  tolerated,  and  afterwards 
tacitly  recognized.  Then  originated  the  great  moral 
revolution  which,  subsequently  checked  and  almost 
overwhelmed  by  the  power  of  the  Papacy  and  dis- 
graced by  scenes  of  horror  to  which  history  affords 
no  parallel,  ended  in  the  momentous  struggle  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  the  permanent  triumph  of 
reason  over  dogma,  of  intelligence  over  ecclesiastical 
authority. 

But  it  was  not  only  by  the  removal  of  superstitious 
prejudice,  through  the  comparison  of  creeds,  the  ju- 
dicious employment  of  the  principles  of  philosophical 
criticism,  and  the  public  exposure  of  the  lives  of  the 
clergy,  that  this  great  and  beneficial  change  was  ac- 
complished. The  commerce  of  the  European  Mos- 
lems was  almost  coextensive  with  the  world  at  that 
time  familiar  to  mariners.  The  excellence  and  beauty 
of  their  wares,  unequalled  by  those  of  any  other 
nation,  were  eagerly  sought  after  by  the  wealthy  and 
luxurious  inhabitants  of  Christian  countries.  Mer- 
chants, traders,  and  students  had  spread  far  and  wide 


6  History  of  the 

accounts  of  the  marvels  to  be  seen  beyond  the  Pjrr- 
enees, — opulent  and  flourishing  communities,  where 
the  meanest  citizen  was  in  the  daily  enjoyment  of 
comforts  imattainable  as  luxuries  by  the  greatest 
potentates  of  Christendom ;  edifices  whose  decorations 
surpassed  in  richness  the  wildest  conceptions  of  Ori- 
ental fiction;  vast  plantations,  where  fruits,  unknown 
to  colder  climes,  grew  in  prodigal  abundance;  cara- 
vansaries and  markets  crowded  with  a  profusion  of 
costly  fabrics,  and  resoimding  with  a  Babel  of  strange 
and  guttural  tongues;  institutions  of  learning  fre- 
quented by  tens  of  thousands  of  students,  whose  at- 
tainments— extraordinary  in  a  world  of  ignorance — 
were  beUeved  to  have  been  secured  by  an  unholy  com- 
pact with  the  infernal  powers. 

The  existence  of  this  civilization  in  close  proximity 
to  the  semi-barbarous  Mediterranean  nations  and  the 
salutary  experience  of  its  benefits  could  not  fail  to 
produce  upon  the  latter  a  deep  and  lasting  impres- 
sion. The  Crusades,  also,  to  some  extent  had  enlarged 
the  minds  of  the  fierce  warriors  of  the  West.  Their 
respect  had  been  inspired  by  the  equal  valor  and  supe- 
rior intelligence  of  their  Mohanmiedan  adversaries; 
and  a  Saracen  was  no  longer,  as  formerly,  considered 
a  demon  incarnate,  destitute  of  honor,  insatiable  of 
blood,  incapable  of  compassion,  ignorant  alike  of  the 
courtesies  of  war  and  the  suggestions  of  humanity. 
These  various  moral  and  physical  agencies,  acting 
through  the  maintenance  of  maritime  intercourse  and 
the  promiscuous  association  with  travellers  of  every 
description,  gradually  produced  effects  long  unper- 
ceived  and  unappreciated  by  the  class  whose  material 
interests  were  most  vitally  endangered. 

The  dawn  of  the  thirteenth  century  witnessed  the 
outbreak  and  the  arrest  of  two  most  significant  move- 
ments of  the  human  mind,  destined  to  exercise  im- 


MooEiSH  Empibe  in  Eueope  7 

mense  influence  on  the  intellectual  character  and  po- 
litical destiny  of  Europe,  The  one  appeared  in  Sicily; 
arose  under  the  auspices  and  was  supported  by  the 
power  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II., — ^that  prodigy 
of  mediaeval  learning  and  diplomacy,  great  by  birth, 
and,  through  the  hereditary  traditions  of  his  line,  stiD 
greater  through  the  talents  with  which  he  was  en- 
dowed and  the  accomplishments  that  adorned  his 
character;  a  colossal  figure  among  the  pygmy  soldiers 
and  churchmen  of  his  time;  a  combination  of  oppo- 
site and  eccentric  qualities;  brave  but  treacherous, 
impetuous  but  crafty;  a  skeptic,  and  an  imrelenting 
persecutor  of  heretics;  at  one  time  heading  a  crusade 
for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre;  at  another 
marshalling  Saracen  armies  against  the  partisans  of 
the  Pope;  a  vassal  of  the  Holy  See,  and  an  open  ally 
and  friend  of  the  infidel;  a  professed  champion  of 
Christianity,  while  endeavoring  to  wrest  from  its 
acknowledged  head  that  spiritual  dominion  which 
invested  him  with  unlimited  power  over  the  lives,  the 
fortunes,  and  the  ultimate  destiny  of  men;  legislator, 
troubadour,  author,  naturalist;  "  a  poet  in  an  age  of 
schoolmen,  a  philosopher  in  an  age  of  monks,  a  states- 
man in  an  age  of  crusaders." 

The  other  intellectual  revolution  against  ecclesiasti- 
cal traditions  and  Papal  despotism  originated  in  the 
sunny  lands  of  Provence  and  Languedoc,  between  the 
Mediterranean  and  the  Pyrenees.  That  regiftn,  early 
overrun  and  colonized  by  the  Saracen,  had  long  re- 
mained subject  to  the  Mohammedan  princes  of  Spain. 
Although  nominally  Christian,  its  population  was 
deeply  infected  with  heterodox  and  atheistical  opin- 
ions. The  coimtry  had  never  lost  the  characteristics 
peculiar  to  the  Moslem  conqueror, — ^the  intelligent 
and  persevering  cultivation  of  the  soil,  the  venture- 
some spirit  of  commercial  enterprise,  the  development 
and  profitable  adaptation  of  every  natural  resource. 


8  History  op  the 

the  pride  of  ostentatious  luxury,  the  profound  distrust 
of  the  female  sex,  which  condemns  its  members  to 
the  seclusion  of  the  harem.  Amidst  the  freedom  and 
gayety  of  its  semi-Oriental  cities,  sectaries  of  every 
creed  lived  imquestioned  and  undisturbed.  Polygamy 
was  practised  without  concealment  or  reproach; 
scarcely  a  castle  of  count  or  baron  was  without 
its  ntmierous  seraglio.  Education  was  general,  and 
remarkable  in  its  scope  and  efficiency  when  contrasted 
with  the  ignorance  of  contemporaneous  societies.  The 
famous  University  of  Montpellier,  a  manifestation  of 
the  intellectual  ideas  and  spirit  which  pervaded  the 
South  of  France,  was  for  generations  a  monimient  of 
the  progress  and  erudition  of  the  inhabitants  of  Lan- 
guedoc.  Among  the  public  teachers  were  many  Jews 
and  Mohammedans,  who,  in  addition  to  the  profound 
and  varied  learning  of  the  schools  of  Cordova, 
brought  to  the  notice  of  a  curious  and  speculative 
race  theories  that  boded  ill  to  the  ecclesiastical  estab- 
lishment, which,  stained  with  every  hideous  and  dis- 
gusting vice,  was  fast  sinking  into  universal  and 
deserved  contempt.  The  practice  of  improvisation, 
— ^the  composition  of  extemporaneous  poetry, — de- 
rived from  the  imaginative  but  unlettered  tribes  of 
the  Arabian  Desert,  and  for  generations  the  delight 
of  the  capitals  of  Moorish  Spain,  f  oimd  here  its  most 
fascinating  expression  and  its  highest  development. 
Next  to*  the  prince  himself,  the  troubadour  was  the 
most  important  personage  of  the  Proven9al  court. 
His  accomplishments,  often  acquired  by  association 
with  the  Moslem,  were  the  envy  of  the  cavalier  and 
the  horror  of  the  priest.  His  elegant  manners  and 
poetical  talents  gained  for  him  the  passionate  adora- 
tion of  high-bom  ladies,  whose  beauty  he  celebrated 
in  florid  and  licentious  verse.  His  satires  were  often 
directed  against  the  clergy,  whose  lives  too  readily 
furnished  cause  for  ridicule  and  censure.    With  him 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  9 

occasionally  travelled  the  jongleur,  who,  to  the  reci- 
tation of  amorous  chants,  added  the  charm  of  har- 
monious minstrelsy.  The  ditties  of  the  troubadours, 
like  the  coarse  and  facetious  tales  of  this  and  subse- 
quent periods,  afforded  an  imf ailing  index  of  popu- 
lar taste  and  prevalent  opinions.  In  their  lays  the 
ecclesiastic  is  almost  invariably  an  object  of  derision. 
His  hyi)ocrisy,  his  licentiousness,  his  greed,  are  de- 
picted in  language  which  admits  of  no  palliating  or 
ambiguous  interpretation.  He  is  constantly  repre- 
sented as  the  proverbial  embodiment  of  all  that  is 
execrable  and  repulsive.  If  a  butt  for  ridicule  was 
needed,  to  give  an  appropriate  climax  to  a  story  com- 
posed for  the  amusement  of  the  court,  the  monastery 
could  be  relied  upon  to  furnish  an  inexhaustible  num- 
ber of  subjects,  whose  foibles  were  at  once  recognized 
by  the  delighted  and  scoflSng  auditors.  The  sacred 
calling  of  the  ministers  of  religion  was  constantly, 
made  the  occasion  of  ribald  pleasantry;  the  tricks  of 
practical  jokers  were  played  with  impunity  upon 
every  incumbent  of  the  sacerdotal  dignity,  from  the 
haughty  bishop  to  the  cowled  and  barefooted  friar. 
Even  the  populace,  in  whom  the  spirit  of  superstitious 
reverence  is  always  the  first  to  be  awakened  and  the 
last  to  be  destroyed,  shared  in  an  equal  degree  the 
feelings  of  their  superiors.  The  vagrant  rhymer,  de- 
claiming his  sarcastic  verses  in  the  streets  or  by  the 
wayside,  was  always  sure  of  a  liberal  and  appreciative 
audience.  Such  a  condition  of  society  indicates  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  intellectual  progress  which  can  only 
result  from  independence  of  thought  and  moral  irre- 
sponsibility of  action.  The  extraordinary  opinion 
began  to  be  advanced  and  largely  accepted  that  the 
investiture  of  the  priesthood,  of  itself,  conveyed  no 
special  virtue  which  dispensed  with  the  rules  of  social 
morality  or  conferred  immunity  from  public  criti- 
cism.   This  idea,  at  variance  with  all  the  traditions 


10  History  of  the 

of  a  Church  which  attached  the  highest  importance  to 
the  rigid  observance  of  mere  formalities,  was  followed 
by  others  of  even  more  novel  and  startling  character. 
The  mibroken  intercourse  with  the  Moslem  princi- 
palities of  the  Peninsula  had  introduced  into  a  coim- 
try,  whose  people  might,  in  some  degree,  justly  claim 
consanguinity  with  the  Saracens  of  Andalusia,  the 
arts,  the  philosophy,  and  the  erudition  which  had  long 
embellished  the  accomplished  courts  of  the  Western 
Khalif  ate.  Hence  arose  the  popularity  of  the  works 
of  Averroes,  and  the  general  familiarity  with  the  pan- 
theistic ideas  of  Indian  origin,  subsequently  adopted 
by  the  heretical  sects  which,  from  time  to  time,  sprang 
up  to  vex  the  Papal  orthodoxy  of  Europe,  With  their 
importation  into  France,  the  doctrines  of  the  Arab 
philosophers  were  invested  with  a  far  broader  signifi- 
cance than  had  ever  been  claimed  by  those  who  first 
inculcated  their  truths.  The  gay  ballads  of  the  South 
assimied  a  greater  license  of  sentiment  and  language 
than  their  prototypes,  whose  freedom  had  provoked 
the  censure  of  the  Mohammedan  society  of  the  Gua- 
dalquivir, little  inclined  to  displays  of  prudish  moral- 
ity. It  was  from  such  beginnings  that  were  derived 
the  suggestions  of  those  memorable  religious  revolu- 
tions which,  headed  by  Wyclif  in  England,  Huss  in 
Bohemia,  and  Luther  in  Germany,  in  defiance  of  the 
tremendous  power  of  the  Vatican,  impressed  an  in- 
delible seal  upon  the  character  and  belief  of  so  large 
a  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  civilized  globe. 
The  influence  that  Troubadour  and  Trouvere — poets 
and  minstrels — during  their  incessant  wanderings 
exerted  upon  the  provincial  dialects  in  which  their 
productions  were  composed,  and  the  extensive  dis- 
tribution of  the  latter,  did  more  than  all  else  to  form 
and  perfect  the  language  of  France.  It  was  the  same 
in  Italy.  That  country  also  indirectly  owes  the  sweet 
and  musical  accents  of  its  graceful  idiom,  equally 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  11 

adapted  to  the  descriptions  of  the  historian,  the  rep- 
resentations of  the  dramatist,  and  the  melodious  ver- 
sification of  the  poet,  to  a  race  foreign  in  all  its  char- 
acteristics and  traditions  to  that  quarter  of  the  world 
where  it  exercised  its  greatest  power.  As  with  poetry, 
so  it  was  with  other  manifestations  of  genius.  Much 
of  the  architecture  of  Southern  Europe,  and  espe- 
cially those  buildings  devoted  to  religious  worship, 
present  unmistakable  evidences  of  their  Moorish 
origin;  and  thus  the  law  of  Mohammed,  while  it 
failed  to  retain  its  dominion  over  the  minds  of  men, 
was  enabled  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  arts, 
which  it  promotS  iS  the  construction  of  magnificent 
and  imposing  edifices  raised  for  the  celebration  of  the 
rites  of  another  and  an  inimical  religion.  In  a  thou- 
sand ways,  the  march  of  intellectual  improvement, 
suggested  by  the  presence  and  example  of  Moslem 
skill  and  learning,  was  accelerated  in  the  provinces 
of  the  South  of  France.  The  active  minds  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  valley  of  the  Rhone  devoured  with 
eagerness  the  extravagant  tales  of  Moorish  fiction, 
and  their  curiosity  was  stimulated  by  the  study  of  the 
maxims  of  Plato  and  Aristotle  contained  in  Arabic 
versions  of  those  writers.  Their  manners  insensibly 
became  softened,  their  ideas  were  enlarged,  their  tastes 
were  cultivated;  they  no  longer  regarded  the  torture 
of  heretics  and  the  massacre  of  infidels  as  conform- 
able to  the  precepts  of  a  religion  based  upon  "  peace 
and  good-wiU  to  men."  With  deep  disgust  they  threw 
off  their  allegiance  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  Woman, 
hitherto  a  slave,  subjected  to  the  caprice  of  an  im- 
perious and  irresponsible  master,  was  raised  by  the 
hand  of  chivalry  and  made  the  cherished  companion,  if 
not  the  equal,  of  her  lord.  Semi-barbarous  Europe 
looked  with  wonder  upon  a  land  so  blessed  by  nature 
and  adorned  by  art;  where  the  remains  of  classic  an- 
tiquity were  taught  in  the  same  schools  with  the  botany 


12  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

of  Syria  and  the  chemistry  of  Spain;  where  a  philo- 
sophic spirit  of  inquiry  had  awakened  the  noblest 
aspirations  of  the  human  intellect,  and  where  knightly 
courtesy  had  replaced  the  rudeness  of  the  sword. 

This  advanced  civilization  had,  imf  ortunately,  come 
four  centuries  too  soon.  The  fears  of  the  Papacy 
were  excited,  and  a  ferocious  crusade,  which  spared 
neither  rank,  age,  sex,  nor  infirmity,  was  published 
against  the  unfortunate  Albigenses.  Upon  the  ruins 
of  one  of  the  most  refined  societies  that  had  arisen 
to  instruct  mankind  since  the  days  of  Athenian  great- 
ness, a  society  which  embodied  all  that  was  interesting, 
learned,  profitable,  or  entertaining  in  himian  life,  was 
erected  the  Inquisition,  the  bane  of  science,  and  the 
implacable  foe  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

The  great  contest  of  the  thirteenth  century  between 
the  Empire  and  the  Holy  See  for  the  mastery  of  the 
world  derived  its  origin  from  the  barbarian  occupation 
of  Italy.  The  imperial  dignity  of  the  Cassars  em- 
bodied, as  is  well  known,  not  only  its  supreme  exer- 
cise, but  the  prestige  and  the  mysterious  power  which 
attached  to  the  place  of  Pontif  ex  Maximus,  the  proto- 
type of  the  Papacy.  That  power  had  been  solemnly 
confirmed,  and  materially  enlarged,  by  the  ambition 
and  politic  measures  of  Constantine.  The  occasional 
employment  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  as  arbiter  of  the 
differences  between  the  Sees  of  Constantinople  and 
Alexandria  had  magnified  the  importance  and  insen- 
sibly extended  the  jurisdiction  of  his  ofiice.  Aspiring 
prelates,  who  held  their  court  on  the  banks  of  the 
classic  Tiber,  in  sight  of  the  stupendous  memorials 
of  ancient  civilization,  soon  began  to  arrogate  to  them- 
selves a  preponderance  in  the  determination  of  secular 
matters  to  which  their  comparatively  obscure  prede- 
cessors had  advanced  no  claim.  The  texts  of  Scrip- 
ture were  invoked  and  interpreted  to  confirm  their 
pretensions.    In  addition  to  the  alleged  vicarious  sov- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  18 

ereignty  vested  in  them  by  the  traditional  choice  of 
the  Saviour,  they  asserted  that  the  privileges  and 
authority  enjoyed  by  the  Pontifex  Maximus  were 
theirs  by  the  right  of  inheritance.  They  insisted, 
moreover,  that  as  celestial  matters  were  of  far  greater 
importance  to  mankind  than  any  connected  with  the 
affairs  of  a  transitory  life,  the  sacredness  of  their 
exalted  position  conferred  extraordinary  prerogatives, 
and  that  the  imperial  power  was  subordinate  to,  and, 
under  some  circumstances,  actually  merged  into,  the 
pontifical  dignity.  By  thus  shrewdly  taking  advan- 
tage of  every  circumstance  which  could  either 
strengthen  its  influence  or  extend  its  jurisdiction, 
the  Holy  See  subjected  to  its  tyrannical  and  irrespon- 
sible sway  a  far  more  extensive  and  populous  terri- 
tory than  had  ever  paid  reluctant  tribute  to  the  masters 
of  imperial  Rome.  Excommunication,  anathema,  and 
interdict,  the  means  by  which  this  tremendous  au- 
thority was  enforced,  were  moral  instruments  which 
appealed  with  irresistible  force  to  the  fears  of  a 
superstitious  age. 

The  barbarian  invasions,  which  swept  away  the  last 
vestige  of  imperial  greatness,  introduced  the  heretical 
doctrines  of  Arius  into  Southern  Europe.  The  re- 
ligious antagonism  resulting  from  the  incessant  clash 
of  adverse  opinions  was  perpetuated  by  the  mutual 
jealousies  of  king  and  bishop,  until  the  accession  of 
Charlemagne  practically  united  in  the  hands  of  that 
emperor  the  temporal  and  sacerdotal  powers, — ^the 
dominion  of  the  earth,  and  the  control  of  an  order 
whose  members  were  universally  regarded  as  media- 
tors with  heaven.  With  his  death  the  exercise  of  the 
exalted  prerogative  of  spiritual  jurisdiction  reverted 
to  the  Papacy.  The  claim  to  its  enjoyment  was  never 
afterwards  successfully  urged  by  any  monarch  who 
was  entitled,  by  right  of  inheritance,  to  the  dignities 
and  privileges  of  the  Carlovingian  empire.    By  de- 


14  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

grees,  the  resistless  influence  of  intellectual  supe- 
riority, quietly,  but  none  the  less  powerfully  exerted, 
began  to  manifest  itself.  It  was  to  the  fact  that  the 
Church  monopolized  all  the  learning  of  early  mediaeval 
times,  even  more  than  to  the  reverence  that  attached 
to  the  holy  calling  of  its  ministers,  that  its  boundless 
power  over  the  most  truculent  and  merciless  bar- 
barians is  to  be  attributed.  A  mysterious  and  exag- 
gerated importance  was  ascribed  to  that  profession 
whose  members  held  communion  with  past  ages;  who 
called  down  the  blessings  or  the  maledictions  of 
celestial  beings  in  a  tongue  unknown  to  the  vulgar; 
who  conmiimicated,  in  unintelligible  characters,  with 
the  learned  and  the  wise  of  distant  nations;  and  who, 
in  the  seclusion  of  the  laboratory,  indulged  in  pursuits 
condemned  by  the  canons  of  their  faith,  but  occasion- 
ally productive  of  results  whose  character,  remarkable 
for  that  epoch,  not  infrequently  acquired  for  tlie 
monkish  chemist  the  imenviable  and  perilous  title  of 
conjuror.  The  literary  and  scientific  attainments 
acquired  in  the  cloister  bore,  however,  no  comparison 
to  the  erudition  of  those  coimtries  where  Saracen 
energy  and  munificence  had  long  promoted  the  exer- 
cise and  expansion  of  the  highest  faculties  of  the 
human  intellect.  The  knowledge  possessed  by  the 
clergy  was  only  extensive  by  contrast  with  the  impene- 
trable ignorance  by  which  they  were  siurounded,  and 
which  it  was  their  interest  to  diligently  propagate  and 
maintain. 

The  era  which  witnessed  the  climax  of  Papal  su- 
premacy was  coincident  with  the  most  thoroughly 
concerted  and  menacing  attempt  at  its  overthrow 
ever  directed  by  any  secular  potentate.  The  birth  of 
Frederick  II.  preceded  the  election  of  Innocent  III. 
to  the  Holy  See  only  three  years.  In  the  deadly 
struggle  that  arose  between  these  two  mighty  antago- 
nists,— ^a  struggle  whidi  was  far  more  political  than 


MooEiSH  Empiee  in  Eukope  15 

religious,  and  whose  tempting  prize  was  the  dominion 
of  the  earth, — ^the  influence  of  the  Saracen  was  a 
powerful,  and,  in  many  instances,  a  predominant 
factor.  Moslem  laws,  institutions,  and  customs  had 
for  centuries,  amidst  communities  hostile  in  origin  and 
belief,  survived  alike  the  existence  of  their  own  dy- 
nasties and  the  domination  of  their  conquerors.  Tribal 
dissensions  and  hereditary  enmity  had  prompted  and 
facilitated  the  destruction  of  the  splendid  Moham- 
medan empire  in  Sicily.  In  its  turn,  the  Norman 
kingdom,  after  a  prolonged  and  stormy  existence,  in 
which  the  Moorish  tributaries  played  no  inconsiderable 
part,  lost  its  identity;  and,  by  the  marriage  of  Con- 
stance, the  mother  of  Frederick  II.,  with  Henry  VI., 
was  merged  into  the  German  Empire.  Dtuing  the 
great  poUtical  and  moral  revolutions  which  disposed 
of  crowns  and  repeatedly  changed  the  destinies  of  the 
island,  the  Arab  element  of  the  population  maintained 
an  undisputed  superiority  in  arts,  in  conmierce,  in 
literature, — ^in  short,  in  all  professions  and  employ- 
ments save  that  of  war  alone.  The  semi-barbarian 
conqueror,  whose  only  passports  to  distinction  were 
the  dexterity  with  which  he  wielded  lance  and  sword 
and  the  undaunted  courage  with  which  he  faced  ten- 
fold odds,  early  recognized  the  advantages  of  that  in- 
tellectual power  which  enabled  his  Moorish  vassals  to 
cope  with,  and  overreach,  in  both  trade  and  diplo- 
macy, the  astute  politicians  of  Christian  Italy.  This 
exotic  population,  notwithstanding  the  successive  ca- 
lamities which  had  afflicted  it,  exhibited  through  long 
periods  of  time  no  extraordinary  diminution  of  num- 
bers, a  fact  no  doubt  largely  attributable  to  the  preva- 
lence of  polygamous  customs.  In  the  centre  of  the 
island  many  Moorish  settlements,  defended  by  im- 
pregnable fortresses,  subsisting  by  pastoral  occupa- 
tions, and  whose  comparative  poverty  offered  little 
inducement  to  invasion,  remained  in  tranquillity  and 


16  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

in  the  enjoyment  of  a  rustic  independence.  In  the 
great  seaports,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Moslem  tribu- 
taries retained  under  foreign  domination  all  of  the 
refinement  and  much  of  the  splendor  which  had  distin- 
guished the  luxurious  court  of  the  emirs.  In  these 
vast  emporiimis,  where  were  constantly  assembled 
the  merchants  of  every  Christian  and  of  every  Mo- 
hammedan state,  a  numerous,  motley,  and  industrious 
people  pursued,  without  oppression  or  hinderance,  all 
the  avocations  of  thriving  mercantile  conmiunities. 
The  peculiar  adaptability  of  the  genius  of  the  Nor- 
man to  novel  social  and  political  conditions,  a  quality 
which  was  the  main  soinrce  of  his  prosperity  and  great- 
ness, was  never  more  prominently  displayed  than  after 
the  conquest  which  transferred  the  sceptre  of  Sicily 
from  one  race  of  foreign  adventurers  to  another. 
No  more  striking  antagonism  of  national  customs, 
religious  prejudices,  habits,  and  traditions  could  be 
conceived  than  that  existing  between  the  victor  and 
the  vanquished.  One  came  from  the  borders  of  the 
Arctic  Circle;  the  original  home  of  the  other  was  in 
the  Torrid  Zone.  Both  traced  their  lineage  to  tribes 
steeped  in  barbarism  and  idolatry;  but  the  Norman, 
though  he  had  changed  his  system  of  worship,  stiU 
retained  many  of  its  objectionable  and  degrading 
features,  while  the  Arab  professed  a  creed  that  re- 
garded with  undisguised  abhorrence  the  adoration  of 
images  and  the  invocation  of  saints.  In  the  arts  of 
civilization,  there  was  no  corresponding  advance  which 
could  suggest  resemblance  or  justify  comparison. 
Poverty,  ignorance,  ferocity,  still  remained  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  Norman,  as  when,  with  a  handful 
of  resolute  companions,  he  scattered  to  the  winds  the 
armies  of  the  Sicilian  Mussulman.  The  latter,  how- 
ever, if  inferior  in  endurance  and  martial  energy  to 
his  conqueror,  was  possessed  of  accomplishments 
which  justly  entitled  him  to  a  prominent  rank  in  the 


winmee  on  the  Harv?rri  College 

MooMSH  Empibe  in  Eueope  17 

community  of  nations.  No  circmnstance  of  honor,  of 
distinction,  of  inventive  genius,  was  wanting  to  exalt 
his  character  or  magnify  his  reputation.  The  fame 
of  his  military  achievements  had  filled  the  world.  His 
commercial  relations  had  made  his  name  familiar  to 
and  respected  hy  remote  and  jealous  races,  to  whom 
the  Christian  kingdoms  of  Europe  were  unknown. 
His  civil  polity  was  admirably  adapted  to  the  character 
and  necessities  of  the  people  its  laws  were  intended  to 
govern.  Under  those  laws,  administered  by  a  succes- 
sion of  great  princes,  Moslem  society  had  become  opu- 
lent, polished,  and  dissolute  beyond  all  example,  but 
eventually  and  inevitably  enervated  and  decadent. 
Political  and  social  disorganization  had  not,  however, 
entirely  destroyed  the  prestige  earned  by  ages  of 
military  glory  and  intellectual  pre-eminence.  The 
schools  of  Cordova  had  been  swept  away  by  hordes 
of  African  fanatics.  Her  libraries  had  been  scattered 
or  destroyed.  Her  incomparable  palaces  had  been 
levelled  with  the  ground  or  had  succumbed  to  the 
gradual  decay  to  which  they  had  been  abandoned  by 
ferocious  chieftains,  alike  ignorant  of  the  arts  and 
indifferent  to  the  claims  of  civilization.  But  the  glory 
of  the  fallen  metropolis  had  been  reflected  upon  the 
provincial  capitals  of  a  distracted  and  dismembered 
monarchy.  Malaga,  Granada,  Toledo,  Seville,  were 
still  celebrated  as  seats  of  learning;  civil  war  had  in- 
terrupted but  not  extinguished  the  pursuit  of  science; 
a  taste  for  letters  counteracted  in  some  degree  the 
thirst  for  blood  which  prompted  the  atrocities  of  tribal 
hale  and  hostile  faction;  and  the  chivalrous  inter- 
course established  at  intervals  between  the  two  races 
contending  for  national  superiority  afforded  a  happy 
if  a  deceptive  image  of  affluence  and  security.  The 
Sicilian  Mohammedans,  while  the  vicissitudes  and 
calamities  of  their  history  presented  in  miniatiu*e  a 
general  resemblance  to  those  experienced  by  their 

Vol.  IIL-« 


18  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

brethren  of  the  Spanish  Peninsula,  were  never  sub- 
jected to  such  repeated  and  overwhekning  disasters 
as  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  subjects  of  the  Onuneyade 
dynasty  and  of  the  principalities  which  inherited  its 
enmities,  and  the  shattered  fragments  of  its  once  vast 
and  populous  but  cumbersome  empire.  The  Norman 
acquisition  of  Sicily,  unlike  the  Spanish  Reconquest, 
was  accomplished  with  surprising  ease  and  rapidity. 
In  the  former  instance  there  was  but  little  of  that  in- 
discriminate ferocity  which  was  characteristic  of  the 
conflicts  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  especially  of  these 
where  religious  interests  were  directly  involved.  The 
experience  of  the  conquerors — obtained  in  many  lands 
— enabled  them  to  appreciate  the  value  of  the  monu- 
ments of  a  highly  developed  civilization,  whose  pro- 
moters were  soon  to  pass  under  their  sceptre.  For 
this  reason  there  was  no  ruthless  spoliation  of  cities, 
no  indiscriminate  devastation  of  a  fertile  coimtry 
which  had  been  reclaimed  by  infinite  toil  and  perse- 
verance from  an  unpromising  prospect  of  marsh, 
ravine,  and  precipice.  The  tangible  results  of  three 
hundred  years  of  national  progress  and  culture  were 
transmitted,  with  but  little  impairment,  to  the  victori- 
ous foreigner.  These  advantages  were  at  once  grasped 
and  appropriated  with  an  avidity  absolutely  phenome- 
nal in  a  people  whose  career  had  been  dictated  by  the 
predatory  instincts  of  the  bandit,  and  whose  manners 
had  been  formed  amidst  the  license  of  the  camp,  the 
superstition  of  the  cloister,  and  the  carnage  of  the 
field. 

Norman  Sicily  exhibited,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, a  prolongation,  under  happier  auspices,  of  that 
dominion  to  which  the  island  owed  its  prosperity  and 
its  fame.  The  influence  of  Moorish  thrift,  capacity, 
and  skill  was  everywhere  manifest  and  acknowledged- 
Its  silent  operation  facilitated  its  progress  and  in- 
creased its  power.     The  maritime  interests  of  the 


MooBisH  Emfibe  in  Eubofe  19 

island  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Moslems;  they  con- 
trolled the  finances;  they  negotiated  treaties;  to  them 
was  largely  confided  the  administration  of  justice  and 
the  education  of  youth.  Their  integrity  was  acknowl- 
edged even  by  those  whose  practices  appeared  most 
unfavorable  by  contrast;  their  versatile  talents  not  in- 
frequently raised  them  to  the  highest  and  most  respon- 
sible posts  of  the  Norman  court.  That  court  is  de- 
clared by  contemporary  historians  to  have  equalled  in 
splendor  and  culture  those  of  Cairo  and  Bagdad.  This 
comparison,  while  the  highest  encomium  that  could  be 
pronounced  upon  its  grandeur  and  brilliancy,  also  de- 
noted unmistakably  the  Oriental  influence  which  per- 
vaded it.  Great  dignitaries,  with  pompous  titles  and 
retinues  imposing  in  numbers  and  magnificence,  exer- 
cised the  principal  employments  of  the  crown.  A  rigid 
system  of  subordination  and  accountability  was  estab- 
lished, governing  the  conduct  of  the  minor  officials 
in  their  relations  to  their  superiors  and  to  the  sover- 
eign. The  gradations  in  rank  of  these  civil  magistrates 
were  numerous,  and  their  respective  duties  plainly  and 
accurately  defined.  The  system  of  fiefs  had  never 
obtained  in  Northern  Italy,  owing  to  the  extraordi- 
nary growth  of  maritime  enterprise,  the  mutual  jeal- 
ousies engendered  by  conunercial  rivalry,  the  preju- 
dices of  the  Lombard  population,  hostile  to  the 
restraints  and  abuses  which  the  adoption  of  that 
system  implied,  the  foundation  of  many  independent 
and  wealthy  communities, — conditions  naturally  in- 
compatible with  the  maintenance  of  an  establishment 
based  upon  obligations  of  military  service  and  baronial 
protection.  In  Apulia  and  Nortiiem  Sicily,  however, 
Norman  domination  transplanted,  to  some  extent,  the 
laws  and  customs  of  Western  Europe,  which  f  oimd  a 
congenial  soil  in  provinces  already  familiar  with  the 
exactions  of  Saracen  despotism.  But  the  feudal  sys- 
tem of  Norman  rule  had  lost  much  of  its  original 


20  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

severity,  and  had  been  curtailed  of  those  oppressive 
privileges  with  difficulty  endured  even  in  countries  for 
centuries  accustomed  to  the  suffering  and  degradation 
they  entailed.  These  modifications  were  so  extensive 
and  radical  as  to  be  almost  revolutionary  in  their  na- 
ture. The  disputes  of  lord  and  vassal,  of  noble  and 
suzerain,  were  decided  by  a  court  of  judicature.  Vil- 
leinage, as  recognized  elsewhere  in  Europe,  was  practi- 
cally unknown.  While  the  villein  was  attached  to  the 
glebe  and  passed  with  its  transfer,  he  could  not  be 
persecuted  with  impunity;  he  could  own  property  and 
alienate  it,  make  wills,  ransom  his  services,  and,  in 
many  other  respects,  exercise  the  rights  of  a  freeman, 
while  still  subject  to  the  disabilities  of  a  serf.  The 
days  of  compulsory  labor  enjoined  upon  him  were 
prescribed  by  law.  His  testimony  was  admissible  in 
the  trial  of  causes;  he  could  not  be  illegally  deprived 
of  the  results  of  his  industry  when  his  duties  to  his 
lord  had  been  faithfully  discharged;  and,  imder  cer- 
tain circumstances,  he  was  permitted  to  enter  the  cleri- 
cal profession,  whose  opportunities  might  open  to  an 
aspiring  zealot  a  career  of  the  highest  distinction. 

The  barbarian  prejudices  of  the  Norman  conqueror 
survived  in  many  institutions  inherited  from  ages  of 
gross  superstition  and  ignorance.  Among  these  were 
the  absmxl  and  iniquitous  trials  by  fire,  water,  and 
judicial  combat,  prevalent  in  societies  dominated 
partly  by  priestcraft  and  partly  by  the  sword.  But 
more  correct  ideas  of  the  true  character  of  evidence 
and  its  application,  acquired  from  association  with  a 
people  familiar  with  the  codes  of  Justinian  and  Mo- 
hammed, eventually  mitigated  the  evils  produced  by 
such  irrational  procedure;  and,  while  not  entirely 
abandoned,  its  most  offensive  features  were  gradually 
suffered  to  become  obsolete.  In  other  respects,  the 
admiinistration  of  justice — for  the  excellence  of  its 
system,  for  the  rapidity  with  which  trials  were  con- 


MoosiSH  £mpib£  in  Eubofe  21 

ducted,  for  the  opportunity  afforded  the  litigant  for 
appeal  and  reversal  of  judgment — was  remarkable. 
Invested  with  a  sacred  character,  the  judge,  in  the 
honor  of  his  official  position,  was  inferior  to  the  king 
alone.  His  person  was  inviolable.  No  one  might 
question  his  motives  or  dispute  his  authority  under 
penalty  of  sacrilege.  The  head  of  the  supreme  court 
of  the  kingdom,  by  which  all  questions  taken  on  appeal 
from  the  inferior  tribunals  were  finally  adjudicated, 
was  called  the  Grand  Justiciary.  His  powers  and 
dignity  claimed  and  received  the  highest  consideration. 
None  but  men  conspicuously  eminent  for  learning  and 
integrity  were  raised  to  this  exalted  office.  The  Grand 
Justiciary,  although  frequently  of  plebeian  extrac- 
tion, took  precedence  of  the  proud  nobility,  whose 
titles,  centuries  old  and  gained  in  Egypt  and  Pales- 
tine, had  already  become  historic.  A  silken  banner, 
the  emblem  of  his  office,  was  carried  before  him.  In 
public  assemblies  and  royal  audiences  he  sat  at  the 
left  hand  of  the  sovereign.  Only  the  constable,  of  all 
the  officials  of  the  crown,  approached  him  in  rank. 
These  unusual  honors  paid  to  a  dignitary  whose  title 
to  respect  was  due,  not  to  personal  prowess  or  to 
hereditary  distinction,  but  to  the  reverence  attaching 
to  his  emplojnnent,  indicate  a  great  advance  in  the 
character  of  a  people  which,  but  a  few  years  before, 
acknowledged  no  law  but  that  of  physical  superiority, 
no  tribunal  but  that  of  arms.  In  the  other  depart- 
ments of  government — ^in  finance,  in  legislation,  in 
the  regulations  of  comimerce,  in  the  protection  and 
encouragement  of  agriculture,  in  the  maintenance  of 
order — ^the  Norman  domination  in  Sicily  presented  an 
example  of  advanced  civilization  to  be  seen  nowhere 
else  in  Europe,  except  in  the  Moorish  principalities 
of  Spain.  The  system  of  taxation  not  only  embraced 
regular  assessments,  but  authorized  such  extraordinary 
contributions  as  might  be  required  for  the  construction 


22  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

of  great  public  works  or  demanded  by  the  exigencies 
of  war.  A  powerful  and  well-equipped  navy  en- 
forced the  authority  and  protected  the  rights  of  the 
Norman  kings  in  the  Mediterranean.  In  the  classi- 
fication of  orders,  ecclesiastics  were  not,  as  elsewhere, 
granted  extraordinary  privileges  by  reason  of  their 
sacred  profession.  Those  of  rank  were  enrolled 
among  the  feudatories;  the  inferior  clergy  were  rele- 
gated to  the  intermediate  grade  of  subjects  placed 
between  the  noble  and  the  serf;  all  were,  equally  with 
the  laity,  responsible  for  infractions  of  the  laws.  The 
monarch  was  the  head  of  the  Church  under  the  Pope; 
the  ofiice  of  Papal  legate,  which  he  usurped,  was  as- 
simied,  by  a  convenient  fiction,  to  have  been  trans- 
mitted by  inheritance;  he  exercised  the  rights  of  the 
erection  of  bishoprics,  the  presentation  of  benefices, 
the  translation  of  prelates,  the  exemption  of  abbeys; 
he  imposed  taxes  on  the  priesthood,  and,  when  occa- 
sion demanded,  did  not  hesitate  to  seize  and  appro- 
priate property  set  aside  for  the  uses  of  public  wor- 
ship. In  his  dominions,  the  Pope,  while  the  nominal 
head  of  Christendom,  was  merely  a  personage  of  sec- 
ondary importance,  with  little  real  influence  and  with 
no  prestige  save  that  derived  from  his  venerated  title 
and  from  his  residence  in  that  city  which  had  once 
given  laws  to  the  world.  The  Papacy,  it  is  true,  had 
not  yet  fully  established  those  portentous  claims  to 
empire  which  subsequently  brought  the  most  remote 
countries  imder  its  jurisdiction;  but  its  aspiring  pon- 
tifi^s  had  already  laid  the  foundations  of  their  despo- 
tism; and  this  defiance  of  their  authority,  at  the  very 
gates  of  the  capital  of  Christendom,  was  fraught  with 
the  most  vital  consequences  to  the  future  peace  and 
welfare  of  Europe. 

No  people  presented  greater  variety  in  manners, 
language,  habits,  and  religion  than  that  of  Norman 
Sicily.   The  mingling  of  strange  tongues,  the  constant 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  28 

recurrence  of  picturesque  costumes,  denoted  the  pres- 
ence of  many  distinct  nationalities.  In  general,  al- 
though close  relations  were  maintained  and  intermar- 
riages were  common,  the  different  races  were  distrib- 
uted in  separate  quarters  and  districts,  and  existed  as 
castes.  Greek,  Latin,  Hebrew,  Arabic,  as  well  as  the 
harsh  and  barbaric  dialects  of  Germany  and  France, 
were  spoken;  the  laws  of  each  nation  were  suffered 
to  prevail,  except  when  they  conflicted  with  the  su- 
preme authority;  enforced  proselytism  and  religious 
persecution  were  unknown;  and,  in  a  society  of  such 
a  diversified  character,  it  was  impossible  that  national 
prejudice  could  obtain  a  permanent  foothold.  The 
tendency  of  public  opinion,  as  well  as  the  policy  of 
the  government,  was  towards  the  indulgence  of  re- 
ligious and  intellectual  freedom.  In  no  respect  was 
this  liberality  so  apparent  as  in  the  treatment  of  the 
Jews.  Elsewhere  in  Europe  they  were  considered  the 
legitimate  prey  of  every  oppressor;  liable  to  be  trans- 
ferred by  entire  communities,  like  so  many  cattle, 
from  one  petty  tyrant  to  another ;  robbed  and  tortured 
with  impunity;  incapacitated  from  invoking  the  pro- 
tection of  the  laws;  rendered  powerless  by  centuries 
of  systematic  oppression  to  exert  the  right  of  self- 
defence  or  to  successfully  appeal  to  arms  in  an  age  of 
anarchy  and  violence.  In  Sicily,  under  the  Normans, 
an  enlightened  public  sentiment  dictated  the  measures 
pursued  in  the  treatment  of  an  enterprising  but  im- 
fortunate  people.  Their  usefulness  to  the  state  was 
recognized  by  the  iimmmities  they  enjoyed.  For 
generations,  no  badge  of  infamy  or  servitude  made 
them  conspicuous  in  the  crowded  streets;  no  onerous 
taxes  were  laid  upon  them  as  a  class;  they  shared,  in 
large  measure,  the  rights  and  privileges  of  other  citi- 
zens ;  no  tribunal  was  permitted  to  discriminate  against 
them  in  the  dispensation  of  justice;  they  were  not 
prohibited  from  exercising  the  profession  of  bankers. 


24  History  of  the 

but  the  rate  of  interest  they  might  exact  was  limited 
to  ten  per  cent. 

The  lustre  of  Saracen  civilization  was  rather  height- 
ened than  tarnished  by  the  Norman  conquest.  The 
stability  and  confidence  which  the  rule  of  the  victors 
produced  more  than  compensated  for  the  damage  in- 
evitably resulting  from  their  military  operations.  The 
supremacy  of  law  was  everywhere  established.  Tribal 
animosity,  which  had  been  the  curse  of  Moslem  so- 
ciety, was  suppressed,  if  not  entirely  eradicated.  The 
seaports  increased  rapidly  in  extent  and  opulence. 
Palaces  of  equal  dimensions  and  beauty,  but  more 
substantial  in  their  construction,  replaced  the  airy  and 
picturesque  villas  which  had  displayed  the  taste  of  the 
Moorish  princes.  Massive  stairways  afforded  access 
to  the  broad  stone  quays  encimibered  with  the  mer- 
chandise of  the  Mediterranean.  The  narrow  and  tor- 
tuous thoroughfares  of  the  Orient  gave  way  to  wide 
and  well-paved  avenues  adapted  to  the  commercial 
necessities  of  a  numerous  trading  population.  As 
formerly,  under  Greek  and  Moslem,  Palermo  ex- 
hibited, in  the  highest  degree,  the  influence  and  prog- 
ress of  the  arts  of  civilization.  Its  citadel,  defended 
by  every  resource  of  military  science,  was  of  such 
extent  as  to  merit  of  itself  the  appellation  of  a  dty. 
Here  were  situated  the  warehouses,  the  bazaars,  the 
baths,  the  markets,  the  churches,  and  the  mosques. 
Above  it  rose  the  castle  reared  by  the  Normans,  the 
solid  blocks  which  composed  its  walls  being  covered 
with  arabesques  and  inscriptions.  The  residences  of 
the  merchants  and  the  nobility  were  conspicuous  for 
their  number  and  elegance;  the  royal  palace  was  in 
itself  a  marvel  of  architectural  grandeur  and  sybaritic 
luxury.  But  the  edifices  which  struck  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  stranger  most  forcibly  were  the  two  great 
shrines  respectively  allotted  to  Christian  and  to  Mos- 
lem worship.    Sectarian  rivalry  had  exhausted  itself 


MoosiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  25 

in  their  construction  and  adornment.  The  mosque  was 
one  of  the  most  superb  in  all  Islam.  Its  beauty  was 
enhanced  by  its  rich  tapestries,  and  by  the  exquisite 
coloring  and  gilding  it  exhibited  in  the  delicate  carv- 
ings which  embellished  its  interior.  But  grand  and 
beautiful  as  it  was,  the  Christian  cathedral  was  gen- 
eraDy  conceded  to  surpass  it  in  those  material  attrac- 
tions which  appeal  most  strongly  to  the  senses  of  the 
enthusiastic  and  the  devout.  Arab  writers  have  vied 
with  each  other  in  celebrating  the  majesty  and  splen- 
dor of  this  famous  temple.  The  combined  skill  of 
the  Moorish  and  the  Byzantine  artist  had  been  laid 
under  contribution  in  its  embellishment.  The  walls 
were  incrusted  with  gold,  whose  dazzling  brilliancy 
was  relieved  by  panels  of  precious  marble  of  various 
colors  bordered  with  foliage  of  green  mosaic.  The 
columns  were  sculptured  with  floral  ornaments,  inter- 
spersed with  inscriptions  in  Cufic  characters.  The 
lofty  cupola,  covered  with  glistening  tiles,  was  one  of 
the  landmarks  of  the  capital,  and,  projected  against 
the  cloudless  sky,  was  the  most  prominent  object  which 
caught  the  eye  of  the  expectant  mariner.  Aroimd  the 
city,  rising  in  terraces,  like  the  seats  of  an  amphi- 
theatre, were  the  suburbs,  verdant  with  the  luxuriant 
vegetation  of  every  country  that  could  be  reached  by 
the  enterprise  of  man,  through  whose  leafy  screen 
appeared  at  intervals  the  gayly  painted  villas  of  the 
merchant  princes  or  the  simiptuous  and  imposing 
palaces  of  the  Norman  aristocracy. 

Amidst  the  numerous  measures  originated  and 
brought  to  maturity  by  the  new  domination,  it  is 
remarkable  that  no  especial  encouragement  was 
afforded  to  institutions  of  learning.  A  tradition 
exists  of  the  academy  of  the  great  Count  Roger, 
but  it  is  only  a  tradition.  No  national  university 
was  f oimded  to  perpetuate  the  fame  or  to  exalt  the 
benefits  of  regal  patronage.    No  general  plan  of  pro- 


26  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

moting  the  education  of  the  masses  was  inaugurated. 
The  Jewish  and  Saracen  schools,  however,  still  sur- 
vived; they  were  often  the  recipients  of  royal  gener- 
osity, and  were  resorted  to  by  such  Christians  as  were 
desirous  of  profiting  by  the  valuable  instruction  they 
afforded.  As  elsewhere  in  Christendom,  the  clergy 
were  the  general  depositaries  of  knowledge, — ^an  ad- 
vantage which  they  thoroughly  understood,  and  were 
by  no  means  willing  to  voluntarily  relinquish.  In  one 
respect  alone  their  power  was  seriously  curtailed. 
The  spurious  medicine  of  the  time,  as  practised  under 
the  sanction  of  the  Holy  See,  had  raised  up  a  herd 
of  ignorant  and  mercenary  ecclesiastical  charlatans. 
These  operated  by  means  of  chants,  rehcs,  and  incense ; 
and  their  enormous  gains  were  one  of  the  chief  sources 
of  revenue  to  the  parish  and  the  monastery,  and  a 
corresponding  burden  on  the  people.  King  Roger 
abolished  this  abuse,  and  required  an  examination,  by 
experienced  physicians,  of  all  candidates  for  the  pro- 
fession of  medicine  and  surgery,  restricting  those 
whose  superstition  was  ineradicable  or  whose  learning 
was  deficient  to  the  clandestine  ministrations  of  the 
shrine  and  the  confessional. 

In  the  subjugated  race,  which  had  inherited  the 
wisdom  and  experience  of  many  ages  and  peoples,  is 
to  be  discerned  the  principal,  and  indeed  the  indispen- 
sable, factor  of  Norman  prosperity  and  civilization. 
Its  characteristics  had  been  deeply  impressed  upon  the 
various  regulations  which  controlled  the  destinies  of 
the  island;  they  reappeared  in  the  military  organiza- 
tion, in  the  civil  pohty,  in  the  social  customs,  in  the 
architectural  designs,  even  in  the  religious  ceremonial, 
of  the  conquerors.  The  invaders  were  but  a  handful 
in  number;  but  the  moral  influence  they  wielded, 
through  invincible  valor,  prodigious  personal  strength, 
and  inflexible  tenacity  of  purpose,  at  once  gave  them 
almost  undisputed  ascendency.    These  qualities,  how- 


MooBisH  Empibe  in  Europe  27 

ever,  could  not,  unaided,  found  or  maintain  a  flourish- 
ing state  eminent  in  those  arts  which  contribute  to  the 
welfare  and  opulence  of  nations.  Oriental  craft, 
refinement,  and  learning  were  able,  however,  to  supply 
the  deficiencies  of  whose  existence  the  rude  and  un- 
polished Western  adventurers  were  thoroughly  cog- 
nizant. The  Moslem  stood  high  in  the  confidence  and 
favor  of  the  Norman  princes.  Quick  to  appreciate 
and  meet  the  exigencies  of  every  occasion,  his  prowess 
was  invaluable  in  the  suppression  of  anarchy  and  the 
establishment  of  order.  Saracen  cavalry  were  enrolled 
by  thousands  in  the  Norman  armies.  Saracen  coun- 
cillors stood  in  the  shadow  of  the  throne.  Saracens 
collected  taxes  and  administered  the  public  revenues. 
They  conducted,  with  the  artful  diplomacy  character- 
istic of  their  race,  important  negotiations  with  foreign 
powers.  Their  religious  assemblies  were  protected 
from  intrusion  and  insult  with  the  same  solicitude 
which  assured  the  inviolability  of  Christian  worship. 
The  unobstructed  enjoyment  and  disposal  of  real  and 
personal  property  was  accorded  to  them  by  the  laws. 
Their  impress  on  the  customs  of  social  and  domestic 
life  was  deep  and  permanent.  The  prevailing  lan- 
guage of  coiui;  and  city  alike  was  Arabic.  Eunuchs, 
in  flowing  robes  and  snowy  turbans,  swarmed  in  the 
palaces  of  king,  noble,  and  bishop.  Dark-eyed 
beauties  of  Moorish  lineage  filled  the  harems  of  the 
martial  and  licentious  aristocracy.  The  kadi,  retain- 
ing the  insignia  and  authority  of  his  original  official 
employment,  was  an  important  member  of  the  Sicilian 
judiciary.  He  not  only  determined  the  causes  of  his 
countrymen,  but  was  frequently  the  trusted  adviser 
of  the  monarch.  From  the  summits  of  a  hundred 
minarets  which  seemed  to  pierce  the  skies,  the  muezzin, 
shrilly  intoning  the  prescribed  verses  of  the  Koran, 
summoned  the  followers  of  Mohanmied  to  prayer.  As 


28  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

was  Palermo,  such  were  the  other  Sicilian  cities, — 
Messina,  S3rracuse,  Enna,  Agrigentum. 

Moslem  institutions,  with  the  powerful  influences 
resulting  from  their  universal  adoption,  thus  main- 
tained an  overwhelming  preponderance  throughout 
the  provinces  of  the  Norman  kingdom.  Even  in 
Apulia  and  Calabria,  the  original  seat  of  the  new 
dynasty,  the  same  conditions  prevailed.  The  centre 
of  the  Papal  power  and  of  the  various  states  subject 
to  its  immediate  jurisdiction — ^a  jurisdiction  already 
important,  but  not  as  yet  exercised  with  undisputed 
authority — could  not  fail  to  be  profoundly  impressed 
by  the  proximity  of  this  anomalous  empire;  where 
Christian  symbols  and  Koranic  legends  were  blended 
in  the  embellishment  of  cathedrals;  where  the  cruci- 
fixion and  the  mottoes  of  Mohammedan  rulers  were 
impressed  together  upon  the  coinage  of  the  realm; 
where  eminent  prelates  owed  investiture,  rendered 
homage,  and  paid  tribute  to  the  secular  power;  where 
Moslem  dignitaries  not  infrequently  took  precedence 
of  Papal  envoys;  and  the  hereditary  enemies  of 
Christendom  fought  valiantly  imder  the  standard  of 
the  Cross.  Nor  was  the  eff^ect  of  this  ominous  ex- 
ample confined  to  localities  where  daily  familiarity 
had  caused  it  to  lose  its  novelty.  The  traders  who 
visited  the  remote  and  semi-barbarous  courts  of  Eu- 
rope, the  Crusaders  who  from  time  to  time  enjoyed 
the  hospitality  of  the  Sicilian  cities,  the  returned  ad- 
venturers who  had  served  in  the  armies  of  the  princely 
House  of  De  Hauteville,  all  spread,  far  and  wide,  ex- 
aggerated and  romantic  accounts  of  the  strange  and 
sacrilegious  customs  of  the  Norman  monarchy.  Ec- 
clesiastics crossed  themselves  with  dismay  when  they 
heard  of  the  honors  lavished  upon  infidels,  whose  co- 
religionists had  profaned  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  evoking 
gigantic  expeditions  which  had  depopulated  entire 
provinces  and  drained  the  wealth  of  credulous  and 


Moorish  Empire  in  Exjbofe  29 

fanatic  Europe.  Others,  whom  study  and  reflection 
had  made  wise  beyond  the  age  in  which  they  lived, 
saw,  with  open  indifference  and  concealed  deUght,  in 
this  defiance  and  contempt  of  Popish  tjnranny,  the 
dawn  of  a  brighter  era,  the  prospect  of  the  ultimate 
emancipation  of  the  human  mind.  The  progress  of 
the  mental  and  moral  changes  which  affected  Eu- 
ropean society,  acting  through  the  intervention  of 
Norman  influence  in  the  political  and  religious  life 
of  the  continent,  was  gradual,  indeterminate,  and  long 
imperceptible,  but  incessant  and  powerful.  The  uni- 
versal deflciency  of  the  means  of  information,  the 
dearth  of  educational  facilities,  which  promoted  the 
dependence  of  the  masses  upon  the  only  class  capable 
of  instructing  and  improving  them,  the  terrible  pen- 
alties  visited  upon  heresy,  deferred  for  nearly  three 
hundred  years  the  inevitable  outbreak  of  an  intellec- 
tual revolution.  The  principles  on  which  that  revolu- 
tion was  based,  although  at  first  discussed  furtively 
and  in  secret,  in  time  became  so  popular  as  to  endanger 
the  empire  of  the  Church  and  to  seriously  impair  its 
prestige. 

The  influence  of  the  royal  House  of  De  Hauteville 
was  extended,  magnified,  perpetuated,  by  the  imperial 
House  of  Hohenstauf  en.  The  traditions  of  the  Arab, 
inherited  by  the  Norman,  were  transmitted  to  and  be- 
came the  inspiration  of  the  German.  The  genius  of 
Frederick  II.  impressed  itself  indelibly  upon  the  en- 
tire Teutonic  race.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
most  formidable  revolt  against  Papal  tyranny  and 
corruption  broke  out  in  Saxony.  The  new  German 
Empire  owes  largely  its  conmianding  position  in  Eu- 
rope and  its  exalted  rank  in  the  scale  of  civilization 
to  the  talents,  the  energy,  and  the  transcendent  wisdom 
of  the  greatest  monarch  of  mediaeval  times. 

The  fierce  struggle  between  the  Papacy  and  the 
Empire  for  universal  rule  began  with  the  ascendency 


80  History  of  the 

of  the  House  of  Hohenstauf  en,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  twelfth  century.  The  princes  of  that  House,  emi- 
nent for  valor  and  diplomacy,  early  displayed  a  spirit 
of  insubordination  towards  the  Holy  See  which  au- 
gured ill  for  the  political  supremacy  which  had  begun 
to  be  the  leading  object  of  its  ambition.  The  Papal 
power,  not  yet  consolidated,  nor  even  fully  defined, 
was  unable  to  successfully  oppose  to  the  encroadi- 
ments  of  the  haughty  German  sovereigns  those  meas- 
ures which  afterwards  proved  so  effective  against  the 
recalcitrant  monarchs  of  Europe  in  the  settlement  of 
disputes  involving  its  doctrines  and  its  authority. 
The  chaotic  state  of  European  politics  made  it  impos- 
sible for  the  Pope  to  enlist  the  aid  of  any  potentate 
able  to  withstand  the  tyrants  of  the  North,  whose  am- 
bition aimed  at  the  absorption  of  St.  Peter's  patri- 
mony, as  their  insolence  had  already  menaced  the  in- 
dependence of  his  throne.  Diplomatic  negotiation  had 
proved  of  no  avail.  The  once  formidable  weapon  of 
exconununication  was  treated  with  contempt.  No 
other  resource  remained.  The  influence  of  the  Empire 
attained  its  maximum  during  the  reign  of  Henry 
VI.;  and  the  Pope,  surrounded  on  every  side  by 
powerful  and  determined  enemies,  seemed  about  to 
be  degraded  to  the  rank  of  an  imperial  vassal,  when 
the  sudden  death  of  the  Emperor,  and  the  election  of 
one  of  the  greatest  of  the  Supreme  Pontiffs  ever 
raised  to  the  chair  of  the  Holy  See,  reversed  the  po- 
litical and  ecclesiastical  conditions,  to  all  appearances 
firmly  established,  and  upon  whose  maintenance  so 
much  depended,  and  opened  the  way  for  a  train  of 
calamities  unequalled  in  their  atrocious  character  by 
any  acts  of  tyranny  that  have  ever  stifled  independent 
thought  or  retarded  the  progress  of  human  civiliza- 
tion. 

Innocent  III.,  when  elected  to  the  Papal  dignity, 
was  already  a  man  of  mature  years,  wide  experience. 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eueofe  81 

and  established  reputation.  His  abilities  as  a  scholar 
and  a  diplomatist,  his  familiarity  with  the  principles 
of  theology  and  law,  had  made  his  name  known  and 
respected  throughout  Europe,  while  the  influence  he 
exerted  in  the  councils  of  the  Chiu-ch,  long  before  his 
exaltation  to  its  highest  oflSce,  rendered  him  eminently 
conspicuous  in  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  Italy.  With 
his  extensive  erudition  and  versatility  of  character 
were  united  talents  for  intrigue  and  administration 
equal  to  the  most  exacting  requirements  of  statesman- 
ship and  command.  Insinuating  in  address,  jovial  in 
conversation,  by  turns  haughty  and  affable  in  manner, 
his  unrivalled  acquaintance  with  human  nature,  and 
his  delicacy  of  tact,  enabled  him  to  regulate  his  con- 
duct and  Ids  demeanor  according  to  the  circumstances 
of  his  political  or  religious  environment.  Conscious 
of  his  commanding  genius,  his  insatiable  ambition  was 
not  content  with  the  enjoyment  of  the  traditional 
honors  and  material  advantages  of  Papal  sovereignty; 
it  aimed  at  the  establishment  of  an  autocracy,  free 
from  the  interference  of  earthly  potentates,  nominally 
subject  to  celestial  power  alone,  but,  in  fact,  absolutely 
irresponsible  and  despotic. 

Such  was  the  formidable  antagonist  who,  at  the 
close  of  the  twelfth  century,  confronted  the  majesty 
of  the  German  Empire,  represented  by  an  infant  less 
than  four  years  of  age.  The  minority  of  that  infant, 
afterwards  Frederick  II.,  was  one  of  degrading  de- 
pendence and  constant  humiliation.  His  mother  was 
compelled  to  acknowledge  the  suzerainty  of  the  Pope 
in  order  to  retain  even  nominal  authority  in  her  own 
hereditary  dominions.  Her  death  left  her  child  the 
ward  of  the  Holy  See,  in  addition  to  being  its  vassal, 
and,  in  consequence,  the  entire  ecclesiastic^  polity  of 
his  kingdom  was  changed;  the  clergy  were  declared 
independent  of  the  secular  power;  grants  of  real 
property,   confiscated   by   preceding   emperors   and 


82  History  of  the 

confirmed  by  long  prescription,  were  revoked,  and 
the  lands  restored  to  the  Chtirch;  quarrels  among  the 
turbulent  nobles  were  industriously  fomented,  to 
afford  a  pretext  for  Papal  interference  and  an  ex- 
tension of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  for  the  nominal 
purpose  of  reconciling  enmities  and  preserving  order; 
the  Jews  and  Moslems,  left  without  a  protector  and 
subjected  to  horrible  persecution,  were  driven  to  the 
desperate  alternative  of  exile  or  brigandage.  As  a 
result  of  these  impolitic  measures,  SicUy  became  op- 
pressed by  anarchy  far  more  deplorable  and  vexatious 
than  that  product  by  the  crimes  and  follies  of  Sara- 
cen misgovemment.  Its  population  diminished;  its 
prosperity  declined;  its  commerce  almost  disappeared. 
With  the  returning  ascendency  of  the  priesthood,  the 
evils  inseparable  from  that  condition — ^ignorance,  in- 
tolerance, private  corruption,  organized  hypocrisy — 
once  more  became  predominant.  The  irruption  of  a 
horde  of  greedy  and  insatiable  ecclesiastics  into  the 
rich  Sicilian  benefices  brought  with  it  all  the  abuses 
of  Papal  Italy.  Simony  was  openly  practised.  Some 
priests  lent  money  at  ruinous  rates  of  interest;  some 
kept  taverns;  others  derived  enormous  incomes  from 
even  more  questionable  places  of  public  entertainment 
The  impurity  of  their  lives  and  the  blasphemies  in 
which  they  often  indulged  soon  caused  fhem  to  for- 
feit the  respect  of  their  parishioners,  as  had  long  been 
the  case  at  Rome.  They  were  so  careless  of  the  out- 
ward observances  and  duties  enjoined  by  their  profes- 
sion as  to  neglect  the  service  of  the  altar  until  their 
conduct  became  a  scandal.  It  was  a  matter  of  com- 
mon complaint  that  the  sacred  vestments  were  ragged 
and  filthy;  the  chalices  unpolished;  the  sacramental 
wine  sour;  the  Host,  the  visible  symbol  of  God,  un- 
protected from  insects  and  covered  with  dust.  The 
habits  of  the  clergy  were  incredibly  vile.  The  more 
exalted  the  rank  and  the  more  conspicuous  the  prelate, 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  88 

the  greater  was  the  example  of  pecuniary  corruption 
and  social  depravity.  The  revenues  of  the  Church, 
extorted  from  a  reluctant  and  impoverished  people, 
were  squandered  in  the  purchase  of  fine  equipages,  in 
sumptuous  banquets,  and  upon  rapacious  courtesans. 
The  duties  of  religion  were  forgotten  in  the  general 
scramble  for  power.  The  palace  of  Palermo  was  the 
rallying  point  of  these  ecclesiastical  politicians,  whose 
broils  and  intrigues,  so  inconsistent  with  their  calling, 
frequently  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  city,  and  whose 
vices  were  the  reproach  of  a  population  which  had 
never  been  able  to  boast  of  a  high  standard  of  personal 
morality. 

The  imperious  spirit  of  Frederick,  unwilling  to 
brook  interference  in  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom  even 
from  his  feudal  superior,  first  disclosed  itself  when 
he  was  but  fourteen  years  old  in  a  dispute  with  the 
clergy  of  Palermo,  who  appealed  from  his  decision  to 
the  Pope.  His  defiance  of  the  Pontiff  was  subse- 
quently of  such  frequent  occurrence  as  to  be  regarded 
as  one  of  the  leading  principles  of  his  administration. 
Innocent  seems  to  have  viewed  with  almost  paternal 
indulgence  the  disobedience  of  a  youth  of  excellent 
parts  and  undaimted  resolution,  who  was  subject  to 
his  authority  not  only  as  a  member  of  the  Christian 
communion,  but  in  the  double  capacity  of  ward  and 
vassal.  His  inability  to  appreciate  the  true  character 
of  Frederick  was  never  so  apparent  as  when  he  com- 
mitted the  fatal  error  which  raised  that  prince  to  the 
greatest  throne  in  Christendom.  The  paltry  conces- 
sions extorted  as  the  price  of  this  great  dignity  were 
an  indifferent  compensation  for  the  series  of  mis- 
fortunes its  bestowal  entailed  upon  Europe, — ^the  ran- 
corous hostility  of  faction;  the  perpetuation  of  in- 
testine conflict,  with  its  inseparable  evils,  widespread 
anarchy,  the  destruction  of  cities,  the  waste  of  prov- 
inces, the  massacre  of  non-combatants,  the  obstruction 

Vol.  III.— 3 


84  HlSTOEY  OF  THE 

of  national  progress;  and  the  partial  return  to  the 
barbarous  conditions  of  former  ages  induced  by  the 
relentless  strife  of  Guelf  and  GhibeUine.  It  is  not  the 
object  of  this  work  to  minutely  set  forth  the  events 
of  that  mighty  struggle.  The  relations  of  the  Holy 
See  and  the  Empire  are  only  important  as  they  may 
have  affected  indirectly  the  influence  of  the  reforms 
instituted  by  the  great  Emperor;  reforms  whose 
foundation  had  been  laid  by  two  preceding  dynasties 
of  widely  different  character,  and  whose  principles  de- 
rived their  origin  from  the  colonization  of  Sicily  by  a 
nation  utterly  foreign  to  the  laws  and  traditions  of 
contemporaneous  Europe. 

Born  under  a  southern  sky,  accustomed  from  child- 
hood to  daily  intercourse  with  the  most  intellectual 
society  of  the  age,  Frederick  II.  retained  to  the  last 
a  decided  predilection  for  Sicily,  the  land  of  his  birth. 
The  classic  memories  and  romantic  history  of  that 
famous  island  exerted  over  his  active  mind  a  most 
potent  and  lasting  influence.  He  had  no  sjntnpathy 
with,  and  less  inclination  for,  the  rude  and  barbarous 
customs,  the  coarse  festivities,  the  ferocity,  drunken- 
ness, and  bestiality  of  that  country  which  was  the 
original  seat  of  his  royal  House,  tiie  realm  whence 
he  derived  the  proudest  and  most  grandiloquent  of 
his  numerous  titles.  Educated  by  two  Moorish  pre- 
ceptors, under  the  superintendence  of  a  cardinal, — ^a 
curious  circimistance  which  indicates  that  infidel  learn- 
ing had  not  yet  entirely  succumbed  to  ecclesiastical 
prejudice, — ^he  in  time  became  proficient  in  all  the  arts 
and  accomplishments  possessed  by  that  remarkable 
people  whose  erudition  and  industry  were  admired 
and  feared  by  the  dominant  race  whose  members  the 
fortune  of  arms  had  made  the  depositaries  of  power 
and  the  interpreters  of  orthodoxy.  This  early,  inti- 
mate, and  constant  association  with  Mohammedans 
and  Greeks,  in  each  of  whose  systems  of  government 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  85 

the  temporal  and  spiritual  functions  were  vested  in 
one  individual,  undoubtedly  suggested  to  the  mind  of 
the  Emperor  the  stupendous  project  of  merging  the 
Papal  oflSce  in  the  imperial  dignity, — a  combination  of 
two  despotisms  under  a  single  head,  whose  powers,  of 
uncertain  and  indefinable  extent,  could  not  be  ques- 
tioned without  incurring  the  penalties  of  both  treason 
and  sacrilege,  and  whose  jurisdiction  would  eventually 
embrace  the  habitable  world.  The  political  and  ju- 
dicial systems  instituted  and  perfected  by  Frederick 
II.,  remarkable  in  themselves,  become  almost  marvel- 
lous when  considered  in  relation  to  the  era  of  their 
establishment,  the  difficulties  encoimtered  in  their 
application,  and  the  antagonism  of  the  privileged 
classes  whose  designs  they  interfered  with  and  whose 
abuses  they  were  intended  to  correct  and  restrain. 
Two  questions  of  paramoimt  importance  engaged 
the  attention  of  this  enlightened  prince,  questions 
containing  in  themselves  the  solution  of  every  admin- 
istrative and  every  social  problem, — ^the  promulga- 
tion of  law  and  implicit  obedience  to  its  mandates,  and 
the  adoption  of  measures  which  might  secure  the 
greatest  attainable  happiness  of  the  people.  To  the 
accomplishment  of  these  noble  and  praiseworthy  ends 
the  talents  and  energy  of  the  great  ruler  were  con- 
stantly devoted, — ^in  hours  of  triumph  and  in  hours  of 
humiliation;  when  engrossed  with  the  cares  of  a  vast 
and  seditious  empire;  in  the  deserts  of  Syria;  in  the 
very  face  of  death;  in  the  bitterness  of  spirit  induced 
by  shattered  dreams  of  long-nourished  ambition. 

The  evils  incident  to  a  protracted  minority  had 
manifested  themselves  with  more  than  ordinary  promi- 
nence in  the  Kingdom  of  Sicily.  The  supervision  of 
the  Pope  had,  as  usual,  been  imif ormly  exercised  for 
the  benefit  of  the  ecclesiastical  order  and  the  aggran- 
dizement of  the  Holy  See.  A  fierce  and  rapacious 
aristocracy,  impatient  of  restraint  and  eager  for  inno- 


86  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

vation,  defied  the  laws,  and  wreaked  their  hereditary 
vengeance  upon  each  other  with  every  circumstance  of 
merciless  atrocity.  The  mass  of  the  poptdation,  prob- 
ably composed  of  more  diversified  elements  and  na- 
tionalities than  any  commxmity  of  equal  numbers  in 
the  world,  unable  to  prosper  and  scarcely  able  to  live, 
endeavored  to  obtain,  by  different  methods,  exemption 
from  the  intolerable  persecution  of  their  enemies. 
The  Greek,  with  the  craft  of  his  race,  attached  him- 
self to  the  faction  which,  for  the  time  being,  enjoyed 
the  best  prospect  of  success.  The  Jew  purchased  a 
temporary  inmiimity  by  the  volxmtary  surrender  of 
the  greater  part  of  his  possessions.  Alone  among  his 
companions,  the  Saracen  took  up  arms.  His  martial 
spirit  and  the  numbers  of  his  countrymen  obtained 
from  his  turbulent  and  disorganized  adversaries  a  tacit 
recognition  of  independence,  which  the  rugged  nature 
of  the  country  that  contained  his  strongholds  did  not 
a  little  to  confirm.  In  the  effort  to  re-establish  the 
royal  authority,  the  Saracens  rendered  invaluable  as- 
sistance ;  they  were  among  the  first  to  assemble  around 
the  imperial  standard;  without  their  co-operation  the 
result  would  have  been  imcertain;  and  their  valor  and 
fidelity  preserved  the  empire  of  Frederick,  as  that  of 
their  fathers  had  consolidated  the  power  of  the  Nor- 
man domination. 

The  jurisprudence  of  the  Emperor  was  based  upon 
and  included  the  system  established  by  the  Normans. 
Its  rules  were  modified  and  improved  as  experience 
had  suggested  would  be  expedient  and  profitable.  The 
main  objects  of  the  laws  were  the  extinction  of  feudal 
tyranny,  and  the  enjoyment  of  private  liberty  so  far 
as  it  was  not  inconsistent  with  the  prerogatives  of  the 
crown.  No  monarch  of  ancient  or  modem  times  was 
more  solicitous  for  the  happiness  of  his  subjects,  and 
none  ever  more  fully  appreciated  the  fact  that  the  test 
of  a  nation's  greatness  is  the  benefit  derived  by  man- 


MooBisH  Empire  in  Europe  87 

kind  from  its  works,  its  history,  its  example.  The 
difficulties  encoimtered  in  the  formation  of  a  imif orm 
code  which  could  be  enforced  in  such  a  cosmopolitan 
society  as  that  of  Sicily  seemed  insuperable.  Feudal 
rights  and  ecclesiastical  exemptions;  the  privileges  of 
the  Jews  and  Saracens,  founded  on  prescription  and 
confirmed  by  tribute;  the  jealous  contentions  of  many 
forms  of  religious  belief;  the  perpetual  encroach- 
ments and  usurpations  of  pontifical  authority;  the 
skepticism  of  Moslem  philosophers,  and  the  fanatical 
rage  of  persecuting  zealots, — ^all  of  these  antagonistic 
rights,  claims,  prejudices,  and  prerogatives  it  was 
necessary  to  correct,  rearrange,  amend,  and  embody 
in  one  practical,  efficient,  and  harmonious  system. 
The  task,  though  stupendous,  was  not  beyond  the 
abilities  and  constructive  genius  of  the  great  law- 
giver. The  turbidence  of  the  nobles  was  firmly  re- 
strained. All  members  of  the  clerical  order  were 
rendered  amenable  to  the  laws  of  the  reahn  in  cases 
which  concerned  the  dignity  and  traditions  of  the  em- 
pire. In  matters  relating  to  marriage  alone  they  were 
permitted  to  exercise  jurisdiction  over  those  who  had 
not  taken  the  tonsure;  the  assent  of  the  Emperor  was 
necessary  to  the  validity  of  an  election;  the  prelate  as 
well  as  tibe  layman  was  compelled  to  assist  in  defray- 
ing the  expenses  of  the  government;  nor,  in  any  way, 
could  he  escape  the  discharge  of  duties  enjoined  by  the 
Imperial  Code  or  plead  immunity  from  burdens  neces- 
sary to  the  security  of  the  state  or  the  enforcement  of 
order.  The  law  of  mortmain,  framed  imder  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Emperor,  preceded  the  famous  statute  of 
Edward  I.,  of  which  it  was  the  prototype,  nearly  a 
century.  Upon  every  individual  the  maxim  was  con- 
tinually impressed  that  the  sovereign  was  the  fountain 
of  justice,  authority,  and  mercy.  The  criminal  pro- 
cedure, foimded  on  Norman  precedents,  was  singu- 
larly free  from  the  legal  atrocities  generally  prescribed 


88  History  of  the 

by  feudal  regulations;  the  penalty  of  death  was  only 
inflicted  for  the  most  heinous  offences ;  mutilation  was 
seldom  permitted  except  in  the  cases  of  incorrigible 
criminals;  torture,  while  recognized,  was  one  of  the 
rarest  of  punishments.  The  courts  were  invested  with 
every  outward  circumstance  of  ofiicial  pomp  and  dig- 
nity. From  the  decision  of  the  supreme  tribimal  there 
was  no  appeal;  even  in  the  monarch  vexatious  litiga- 
tion was  systematically  discouraged;  judicial  bribery 
was  considered  a  crime  of  peculiar  infamy;  and  the 
practice  of  holding  the  magistrate  responsible  for  the 
maintenance  of  peace  in  his  district  was  a  most  efiicient 
check  upon  the  violence  and  depredations  of  profes- 
sional malefactors. 

In  the  statutes  relating  to  the  detection  and  punish- 
ment of  heresy,  the  character  of  Frederick  appears  to 
singular  and  manifest  disadvantage.  His  long  wars 
with  the  Pope,  his  close  intimacy  with  infidels,  his  op- 
pression of  ecclesiastics,  the  repeated  acts  of  sacrilege 
of  which  he  was  guilty,  the  blasphemous  speeches  con- 
stantly upon  his  tongue,  the  profane  and  mysterious 
studies  in  whidi  he  delighted,  his  employment  of  and 
confidence  in  wizards  and  astrologers,  demonstrate 
beyond  contradiction  the  weakness  of  his  faith  or  the 
prof oxmdness  of  his  hypocrisy.  But  the  latitude  of 
opinion  and  conduct  which  he  allowed  himself  was  in 
an  inverse  ratio  to  that  which  he  vouchsafed  to  others. 
No  familiar  of  the  Inquisition  ever  pursued  heretics 
with  greater  zeal  or  pertinacity  than  the  famous  mon- 
arch whose  name  is  constantly  associated  with  all  that 
is  liberal,  enlightened,  and  profitable  in  the  annals  of 
human  progress,  an  inconsistency  all  the  more  glaring 
in  a  prince  whose  favorite  sentiment  was,  "  The  glory 
of  a  ruler  is  the  safe  and  comfortable  condition  of  the 
subject."  History  has  never  been  able  to  advance  a 
satisfactory  or  even  a  plausible  explanation  of  this 
anomaly;  its  cause,  at  this  distance  of  time,  must  re- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  89 

main  forever  unknown,  and  may  be  ascribed,  for  want 
of  a  better  solution,  to  the  innate  perversity  of  the 
human  mind,  which  often  by  a  single  glaring  defect 
obscures  the  brilliant  lustre  of  a  character  eminently 
conspicuous  for  every  princely  quality,  for  every  gen- 
erous impulse,  and  for  every  literary  and  artistic 
excellence. 

His  commercial  regulations  were  among  the  princi- 
pal sources  of  Frederick's  power  and  greatness.  His 
genius  perceived  at  a  glance  the  vast  advantages  which 
must  result  from  an  interchange  of  commodities  with 
maritime  nations;  and,  in  the  application  of  this  prin- 
ciple, every  facility  was  afforded  those  bold  spirits 
whose  energy  the  expectation  of  gain  or  the  love  of 
adventure  directed  into  the  channels  of  trade.  Treaties 
more  liberal  in  their  provisions  and  more  profitable  in 
their  effects  than  any  which  had  heretofore  been 
adopted  by  the  powers  of  the  Mediterranean  were  con- 
cluded with  the  greatest  mercantile  commxmities  of 
Europe, — Constantinople,  Venice,  Genoa, — as  well  as 
with  Damascus  and  Alexandria  and  the  Moorish 
principalities  of  Africa  and  Spain. 

The  intimacy  maintained  by  Frederick  with  Mo- 
hammedan sovereigns  contributed  greatly  to  the  pros- 
perity of  his  dominions.  The  Sultan  of  Egypt  was 
his  friend.  The  Emir  of  Tunis  was  his  tributary. 
With  the  other  Moslem  princes  he  was  on  the  best 
of  terms.  Treaties  of  commerce,  framed  for  mu- 
tual advantage,  were  frequently  negotiated  with  these 
potentates,  who  were  only  too  willing  to  discriminate 
against  other  European  monarchs  in  favor  of  the 
Emperor  of  Germany.  In  1241,  on  the  arrival  of  the 
Imperial  ambassadors,  Cairo  was  illuminated  in  their 
honor.  The  trade  of  Sicily  extended  to  India.  The 
luxuries  of  the  Orient  were  brought  to  the  ports  of 
Palermo  and  Messina.  In  their  markets  the  arms,  the 
jewels,  the  stuffs,  the  porcelain,  of  coimtries  remote 


40  History  of  the 

from  civilization  found  a  ready  sale.  In  return,  im- 
mense quantities  of  grain  and  manufactured  articles 
were  exported.  It  has  been  established  upon  un- 
doubted authority  that  white  female  slaves  of  Chris- 
tian birth  formed  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  the 
commodities  dealt  in  by  the  subjects  of  Frederick  II. 
The  fortunate  geographical  situation  of  Sicily,  her 
magnificent  harbors,  the  productiveness  of  her  soil,  the 
excellence  and  variety  of  her  manufactures,  had,  in 
all  ages,  been  factors  of  paramount  importance  in  her 
commercial  development.  That  development  was  now 
materially  aided  by  the  reciprocal  observance  of  hu- 
mane and  courteous  regulations,  hitherto  unrecognized 
in  the  intercourse  of  nations  during  the  Middle  Ages. 
Merchants  in  foreign  ports  were  received  with  lavish 
hospitality;  distrust  of  strangers  gradually  subsided; 
and  imf  ortunates,  cast  away  at  sea,  were  no  longer 
compelled  to  endure  both  the  violence  of  the  elements 
and  the  heartless  rapacity  of  ferocious  outlaws  or 
amateur  freebooters.  In  the  widely  distributed  com- 
merce of  the  monarchy  the  crown  enjoyed  no  insig- 
nificant share.  The  ships  of  Frederick  were  anchored 
in  every  harbor;  his  warehouses  were  filled  with  the 
choicest  and  most  costly  fabrics  of  every  country ;  and 
his  agents,  conspicuous  for  their  enterprise  and  daring, 
collected,  in  the  distant  and  almost  unknown  regions 
of  the  Orient,  articles  whose  sale  would  most  contribute 
to  the  benefit  of  the  royal  treasury.  The  principles  of 
free  trade  seem  to  have  been  first  promulgated  in  the 
maritime  code  of  Sicily.  The  Emperor,  however,  in 
the  application  of  those  principles,  evinced  no  reluc- 
tance in  discriminating  against  his  own  subjects,  whose 
vessels  were  not  permitted  to  clear  for  foreign  ports 
until  those  of  the  crown  had  been  a  certain  time  at  sea. 
Every  branch  of  conunerce  paid  tribute  to  the  im- 
perial merchant.  His  ships  carried  pilgrims  to  the 
Holy  Land.    The  grain  he  annually  sent  to  Africa 


MooBiSH  Empike  m  Eubofe  41 

returned  an  enormous  and  certain  profit.  His  trade 
with  India  brought  into  European  markets  objects  of 
unfamiliar  uses  and  elaborate  workmanship,  whose 
rarity  often  increased  their  great  intrinsic  value.  His 
friendly  relations  with  Mohanunedan  princes,  begun 
during  the  Crusade  and  terminated  only  by  his  death, 
made  him  frequently  the  recipient  of  magnificent 
presents.  We  read  that  on  one  occasion  an  eastern 
potentate  sent  him  a  dozen  camels  laden  with  silver 
and  gold.  All  ships  trading  to  Palestine  were  required 
to  bring  back  a  cross-bow  for  each  of  their  cables,  a 
measure  which,  while  it  replenished  the  royal  arsenals 
with  the  most  effective  weapons  of  the  age,  was 
free  from  the  dangers  of  official  incapacity  or  cor- 
ruption, and  entailed  no  expense  on  the  government. 
A  great  fleet  of  galleys,  commanded  by  the  Grcnoese 
admiral  Spinola,  maintained  the  naval  power  of  the 
kingdom  and  protected  the  coasts  from  the  depreda- 
tions of  pirates. 

In  the  internal  administration  of  the  kingdom,  the 
most  progressive  and  equitable  ideas  of  commercial 
honor  and  common  advantage  prevailed.  No  duty 
could  be  levied  on  articles  of  necessity  transported 
from  one  province  to  another.  While  monopolies  were 
not  forbidden,  they  were  restricted  to  the  crown,  and 
the  oppression  resulting  from  this  measure  in  other 
countries  was  not  felt  by  the  subjects  of  Frederick. 
Annual  fairs  were  held  in  all  the  principal  cities; 
markets  existed  everywhere.  Taxes  were  apportioned 
according  to  the  wealth  of  the  district  where  they  were 
to  be  collected.  Constant  war  made  these  impositions 
onerous  at  times,  but  there  was  some  relief  in  the 
knowledge  that  the  clergy  were  forced  to  contribute 
their  share  to  the  public  burdens,  an  inconvenience 
from  which  they  were  elsewhere  exempt.  The  coinage 
was  one  of  the  purest,  the  most  convenient,  the  most 
beautifully  executed  lliat  had  ever  been  put  in  drcu- 


42  History  of  the 

lation  by  any  government.  Agriculture,  still  largely 
in  the  hands  of  the  Arabs,  was  carried  to  the  highest 
perfection.  Every  plant  or  tree,  whose  culture  was 
known  to  be  profitable  and  which  could  adapt  itself 
to  a  soil  of  phenomenal  fertility,  was  to  be  found  in 
the  gardens  and  plantations  of  Sicily.  The  regula- 
tions of  the  kingdom  concerning  the  rural  economy  of 
its  people  were  minute  and  specific,  even  paternal,  in 
their  character.  They  were  especially  exact  in  details 
when  directing  how  ttie  royal  demesnes  should  be  ad- 
ministered. Records  were  kept  of  the  crops  produced 
in  each  district.  Inventories  of  all  the  stock,  poultry, 
grain,  and  fruit  were  made  each  year;  the  methods  of 
their  disposition  and  the  prices  they  brought  were 
noted  on  the  public  registers.  The  very  uses  to  which 
even  the  feathers  of  the  domestic  fowls  were  destined 
was  a  matter  of  ofiicial  inquiry.  The  breeds  of  horses, 
asses,  and  cattle  were  improved ;  the  greatest  care  was 
taken  of  these  animals.  Food,  which  after  experiment 
was  found  to  be  the  most  nutritious,  was  adopted ;  and 
the  Emperor,  whose  interest  in  these  matters  was  stim- 
ulated by  the  profit  he  derived  from  his  stables,  per- 
sonally scrutinized  their  management  with  the  most 
assiduous  care.  The  supervision  exercised  by  govern- 
ment ojBBicials  over  all  occupations  was  most  precise, 
and  must  have  often  proved  vexatious.  Weights  and 
measures  were  prescribed  by  law,  and  any  departure 
from  honest  dealing  in  this  respect  was  visited  with 
the  severest  penalties.  OflScers  were  appointed  in 
every  town  for  the  detection  of  false  weights  and 
the  sale  of  spurious  merchandise.  The  laws  of  hy- 
giene were  imderstood  and  enforced  with  a  degree  of 
intelligence  luiknown  to  many  European  communities 
even  at  the  present  day.  Unwholesome  provisions 
could  not  be  exposed  for  sale  in  the  markets.  Trades 
offensive  to  the  senses  or  injurious  to  public  health 
were  prohibited  within  the  walls  of  cities.    A  depth 


MooBiSH  Empire  in  Eueope  48 

was  prescribed  for  graves,  that  the  exhalations  pro- 
ceedmg  from  them  might  not  contaminate  the  air.  No 
carrion  was  permitted  to  be  left  on  the  highways. 

In  questions  of  legislation,  as  well  as  in  those  re- 
lating to  political  economy,  the  kingdom  of  Sicily 
was  far  in  advance  of  its  contemporaries.  The  con- 
stitution of  England,  and  especially  the  organization 
of  the  House  of  Conmions,  owe  much  to  the  Sicilian 
Parliament.  While  the  duties  of  its  members  were 
ordinarily  confined  to  the  registering  of  royal  edicts 
and  the  imposition  of  taxes,  it  presents  the  first  ex- 
ample of  a  truly  elective,  representative  assembly  that 
is  mentioned  in  history.  From  the  institutions  of 
Frederick,  his  relative,  Alfonso  X.  of  Castile,  appro- 
priated many  of  the  legislative  and  judicial  provisions 
of  Las  Siete  Partidas, — a  compilation  for  which  that 
monarch  is  principally  entitled  for  his  fame.  France 
and  Germany  also  ultimately  experienced  the  imper- 
ceptible but  potent  impulse  conununicated  to  society 
by  the  supremacy  of  law  over  theology,  which  had  its 
beginning  in  Sicily  during  the  thu^eenth  century. 

Extensive  and  important  as  were  the  reforms  of 
Frederick,  it  was  from  the  munificent  and  discerning 
patronage  extended  to  science  and  literature  that  is 
derived  his  most  enduring  claim  to  the  gratitude  and 
conmiendation  of  posterity.  The  impressions  im- 
parted by  Moslem  taste,  in  the  prosecution  of  early 
studies,  during  the  formation  of  his  character,  never 
lost  their  power.  His  court  was  frequented  by  the 
most  accomplished  Jews  and  Arabs  of  the  age.  They 
were  the  favorite  instructors  of  youth.  Their  opin- 
ions, drawn  from  the  sources  of  classic  and  Oriental 
learning,  were  heard  with  respect  and  awe,  even  by 
those  who  dissented  from  their  creeds  and  deprecated 
their  influence.  They  filled  the  most  responsible  and 
lucrative  offices  of  the  government.  Admitted  to 
friendly  and  confidential  audiences  with  the  sover- 


4i4  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

eign,  who,  himself  an  excellent  mathematician,  de- 
lighted to  pose  them  with  abstruse  problems  in 
geometry  and  algebra,  their  philosophy  was  regarded 
with  signal  disfavor  by  distinguished  prelates  that 
daily,  in  halls  and  antediambers,  impatiently  awaited 
the  pleasure  of  the  Emperor.  So  fond  was  Frederick 
of  these  intellectual  diversions,  that  he  sent  certain 
questions  for  solution  to  the  Mohammedan  coimtries 
of  Africa  and  the  East;  but  no  one  was  found  com- 
petent to  answer  them  until  they  reached  the  court  of 
one  of  the  princes  of  Moorish  Spain.  One  of  the  most 
accomplished  of  linguists,  Frederick  sedulously  en- 
couraged the  study  of  languages  throughout  his  do- 
minions. Arabic,  Hebrew,  and  Greek  were  imder- 
stood  and  spoken  by  all  who  made  any  pretensions 
to  thorough  education.  Naples  and  Salerno  were  the 
most  famous  seats  of  learning  in  that  epoch, — at  the 
former  was  the  University  established  by  the  Em- 
peror; the  Medical  College  of  Salerno  is  justly  cele- 
brated as  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  academical 
institutions  that  has  ever  existed.  The  Faculty  of 
the  University  was  composed  of  the  most  eminent 
scholars  who  could  be  attracted  by  ample  salaries,  the 
prospect  of  literary  distinction,  and  the  certain  favor 
of  an  enlightened  monarch.  The  resources  of  all 
countries  were  diligently  laid  imder  contribution  to 
insure  the  success  of  this  noble  foxmdation.  The 
popularity  of  Frederick  with  the  Moslem  princes  of 
the  East  gave  him  exceptional  facilities  for  the  ac- 
quirement of  literary  treasures.  The  collections  of 
Egypt  and  Syria  and  of  the  monasteries  of  Europe 
were  ransacked  for  rare  and  curious  volumes  with 
which  to  furnish  the  library  of  the  great  Neapolitan 
college.  No  city  was  better  adapted  to  the  necessities 
of  a  large  scholastic  institution  than  Naples.  Its  situ- 
ation in  the  centre  of  the  Mediterranean,  the  salu- 
brity of  the  climate,  the  cheapness  and  variety  of  its 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eusofe  45 

markets,  offered  unusual  inducements  to  poor  and 
ambitious  students  desirous  of  an  education.  Their 
interests  were  protected  and  their  security  assured  by 
special  and  rigorous  laws.  Extraordinary  precautions 
were  taken  to  prevent  their  being  molested  during 
their  journeys  to  and  fro.  The  prices  which  might 
be  charged  for  lodging  were  clearly  and  definitely 
established.  Provision  was  made  for  loans,  at  a 
nominal  interest,  to  such  scholars  as  did  not  have  the 
funds  requisite  to  successfully  prosecute  their  studies. 
The  preparatory  schools  of  the  kingdom  were  con- 
ducted with  equal  care  and  prudence,  and  nowhere 
else  in  the  world,  in  that  age,  could  educational  ad- 
vantages of  a  similar  character  be  enjoyed  as  in  the 
Sicilian  dominions  of  the  Emperor. 

Great  as  it  was,  the  reputation  of  the  University 
of  Naples  has  been  eclipsed  by  the  superior  renown 
of  the  Medical  College  of  Salerno.  There  the  study 
of  surgery  and  medicine  was  pursued  under  the  eyes 
of  the  most  learned  and  distinguished  practitioners 
of  every  nation  familiar  with  the  healing  art.  Igno- 
rance of  any  language  could  scarcely  be  an  impedi- 
ment to  the  student,  for  instruction  was  given  in 
Latin,  Greek,  German,  Hebrew,  Arabic.  Scientific 
methods  were  invariably  observed  in  its  curriculum. 
The  prevalent  superstitions,  which,  encouraged  by  the 
clergy,  appealed  to  the  credulous  fears  of  the  vulgar, 
were  contemptuously  banished  from  its  halls.  While 
the  School  of  Salerno  had  existed  since  the  eighth 
century,  and,  from  its  origin,  chiefly  owed  its  fame 
and  success  to  Arabic  and  Jewish  influence,  it  attained 
its  greatest  prosperity  xmder  the  fostering  care  of 
Frederick  II.  The  writers  principally  relied  on  by 
its  professors  were  Hippocrates  and  Galen,  whose 
works  had  been  preserved  from  barbarian  destruction 
or  oblivion  by  the  Saracens  of  Egypt  and  Spain.  But 
while  these  venerable  authorities  were  always  quoted 


46  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

with  reverence,  no  obstinate  adherence  to  tradition,  no 
devotion  to  errors  consecrated  by  the  usages  of  cen- 
turies, characterized  the  College  of  Salerno.  Its 
spirit  was  eminently  progressive,  inquisitive,  liberal. 
The  monk,  the  rabbi,  the  imam,  the  atheist,  were  nimi- 
bered  among  its  teachers,  and  each  maintained  a  posi- 
tion among  his  fellows  in  a  direct  ratio  to  his  intellec- 
tual attainments.  This  anomalous  condition,  the  more 
conspicuous  in  an  era  of  general  ignorance,  and  flour- 
ishing under  the  very  shadow  of  the  Papacy,  itself 
inimical  to  all  pursuits  which  tended  to  mental  prog- 
ress and  interference  with  its  spiritual  emoluments, 
rendered  the  existence  of  such  an  institution  all  the 
more  remarkable.  To  its  researches  are  to  be  attrib- 
uted many  maxims,  theories,  and  methods  of  practice 
still  recognized  as  correct  by  modem  physicians.  Its 
investigations  were  thoroughly  philosophical  and 
based  largely  upon  experiment.  Information  was 
communicated  by  lectures;  anatomical  demonstra- 
tions, as  in  modem  times,  were  considered  among  the 
most  useful  and  valuable  means  of  instruction.  Medi- 
aeval prejudice  still  opposed  the  mutilation  of  the 
himian  form,  which,  with  the  sectarian  prohibition 
of  ceremonial  uncleanness,  had  long  before  been  over- 
come by  the  Moorish  surgeons  of  Cordova;  and,  in 
the  Salemitan  chnic,  anatomists  were  forced  to  be 
apparently  content  with  the  dissection  of  hogs  and 
monkeys.  In  secret,  however,  human  bodies  were  not 
infrequently  delivered  to  the  scalpel,  and  the  ofiices  of 
many  internal  organs  were  observed  and  determined 
by  the  aid  of  vivisection, — a  practice  indispensable  to 
a  proper  understanding  of  surgery,  yet  reprobated, 
even  in  our  age  of  scientific  inquiry,  by  a  class  of 
noisy,  but  well-meaning,  fanatics.  The  imsatisfac- 
tory  memorials  of  the  School  of  Salerno  which  have 
descended  to  us^ — ^some  of  doubtful  authenticity, 
others  of  unknown  derivation — nevertheless  disclose 


MooBiSH  Empibe  IK  EuBOFE  47 

the  extraordinary  discoveries  its  professors  had  made 
in  anatomy;  among  them  those  of  the  f mictions  of 
the  chyle  ducts»  of  the  lymphatic  system,  of  the  capil- 
laries, which  then  received  their  name ;  of  the  different 
coats  and  humors  of  the  eye;  of  the  phenomena  of 
digestion,  together  with  detailed  descriptions  of  the 
office  of  the  ovaries  and  their  tubes,  whidi  anticipated 
the  researches  of  Falloppio  by  more  than  four  himdred 
years.  Specialists  then,  as  now,  devoted  their  talents 
to  the  improvement  and  perfection  of  certain  branches 
of  medical  science.  There  were  many  celebrated  ocu- 
lists and  lithotomists,  and  practitioners  who  were 
highly  successful  in  the  treabnent  of  hernia,  of  me- 
chanical injuries  of  every  kind,  and  of  the  diseases  of 
women.  The  rules  of  hygiene,  the  properties  of  the 
various  substances  of  the  Materia  Medica,  the  prin- 
ciples of  pathology  and  therapeutics,  as  laid  down  by 
the  faculty  of  Salerno,  have  been  transmitted  to  us 
in  a  lengthy  and  curious  poem  entitled,  "  Flos  Medi- 
dnae  Scholse  Salerni,"  popularly  known  as  Regimen 
Sanitatis. 

This  extraordinary  production,  none  of  which  is 
probably  later  than  the  twelfth  century,  and  whose 
origin  is  unknown,  has  been  ascribed  by  Sprengel  to 
Isaac  ben  Solomon,  a  famous  Jewish  practitioner  of 
Cordova,  who  died  in  950.  Careful  examination,  how- 
ever, discloses  the  fact  that  it  is  not  the  work  of  a 
single  hand,  but  a  compilation  of  various  medical  pre- 
cepts and  opinions  belonging  to  different  epochs.  In 
its  prologue,  the  pre-eminent  value  of  temperance  in 
all  things  is  diligently  inculcated: 

"  Si  vis  incolmnem,  si  vis  te  vivere  sanum: 
Curas  linque  graves,  irasci  crede  prof  anum. 
Parce  mero,  coenato  parmn;   non  sit  tibi  vanum 
Snrgere  post  epnlas;  somimm  fnge  meridianum. 
Si  tibi  deficiant  Medici,  medici  tibi  fiant 
Hec  tria;    mens  laeta,  requies^  moderata  dieta." 


48  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

It  also  contains  hints  on  diagnosis  and  prognosis;  in- 
formation indicating  no  small  degree  of  anatomical 
and  physiological  knowledge;  formulas  for  antidotes 
of  poisons;  advice  for  the  care  of  the  body  dming 
every  month  in  the  year;  and  astrological  indications 
of  the  favorable  or  malign  influence  of  the  signs  of 
the  zodiac  and  the  stars.  From  the  following  couplet, 
designating  the  Seven  Ages  of  Man, 

"  Infans,  inde  puer,  adolescens,  jnvenis^  vir, 
Dicitur  inde  senex,  postea  decrepitus/' 

seems  to  have  been  derived  the  inspiration  of  the 
familiar  lines  of  Shakspeare. 

The  vitiated  taste  of  an  age  not  yet  fully  acquamted 
with  the  properties  of  correct  literary  composition 
caused  the  incorporation  of  verses  into  many  of  its 
most  serious  and  dignified  productions.  These  di- 
dactic poems  seem  singularly  out  of  place  in  a  medi- 
cal treatise,  and  especially  so  where,  as  is  usually  the 
case,  the  poetry  is,  in  both  matter  and  harmony  of 
numbers,  below  mediocrity. 

Apothecaries  and  chemists,  of  whom  a  competent 
knowledge  of  drugs  was  required,  were  subject  to  the 
corps  of  physicians  who  were  forbidden  to  join  in 
their  enterprises  or  share  their  profits;  they  were 
sworn  to  obey  the  Code;  the  number  of  pharmacies 
was  limited;  and  they  were  liable  to  the  visitation  of 
imperial  inspectors  responsible  for  the  purity  of  their 
merchandise  and  the  observance  of  the  law.  The  pre- 
cautions required  in  the  sale  of  poisons;  the  directions 
for  compounding  electuaries  and  syrups;  the  most 
approved  methods  for  the  preparation  of  the  love- 
potions  believed  to  be  so  efiicacious  by  mediseval  cre- 
dulity; the  fabrication  of  charms  for  the  prevention 
of  disease,  are  all  set  forth  in  the  Salernitan  Code  with 
minute  and  tedious  exactness. 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  49 

In  the  city  were  many  hospitals,  the  oldest  of  which 
was  established  in  the  ninth  century,  and  was  con- 
temporaneous with  similar  institutions  founded  by  the 
Ommeyade  dynasty  of  Cordova.  Some  of  them  were 
richly  endowed,  others  were  entirely  supported  by 
charitable  donations.  The  strict  requirements  of 
medical  police  were  recognized  in  the  isolation  of 
patients  suffering  from  contagious  diseases.  A  sys- 
tematic distinction  was  observed  in  the  purposes  of 
these  beneficent  foimdations;  they  were  of  various 
classes  and  devoted  to  the  care  of  the  poor  and  the 
homeless,  to  the  protection  of  invalid  females  of  rank 
and  fortune,  to  the  support  of  foundlings;  and  the 
most  intelligent  treatment  of  every  malady  was 
gratuitously  afforded.  The  members  of  monastic 
orders,  for  the  most  part,  had  charge  of  the  hospitals, 
and  acted  in  the  capacity  of  nurses  and  attendants. 

The  regulations  of  Frederick,  who  imited  the  vari- 
ous schools  of  Salerno  into  one  vast  institution  of 
medical  learning,  exacted  the  possession  of  the  high- 
est abilities,  dexterity,  and  experience  by  the  expectant 
practitioner.  A  preparatory  course  of  three  years  in 
the  general  branches  of  literature  and  philosophy  was 
required  of  him.  Five  years  at  least  were  to  be  de- 
voted to  study  in  the  colleges,  and  one  year  was  then 
to  be  passed  under  the  eye  of  an  experienced  physician 
before  the  aspirant  for  professional  distinction  was 
pronounced  competent  to  prescribe  for  the  suffering. 

The  remarkable  attainments  and  skill  of  Roger  of 
Parma,  the  great  surgeon,  who  was  famous  for  the 
treatment  of  wounds  and  fractures  and  the  extirpa- 
tion of  tumors  and  polypi;  of  Maurus,  Gaulterius, 
and  Matthew  Silvaticus,  who  published  treatises  on 
phlebotomy,  general  practice,  and  the  Materia 
Medica;  of  Garipontus,  an  expert  in  operations 
for  calculus  and  other  diseases  of  the  pelvic  organs; 
of  Giovanni   da  Frodda,   the   accomplished   court 

Vol.  IIL-4 


50  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

physician  of  Frederick  II.,  all  graduates  of  the 
School  of  Salerno,  are  conspicuous  in  the  annals  of 
mediasval  surgery  and  medicine.  Then  first  appeared 
the  patronymic  of  Farragut — ^afterwards  destined  to 
such  renown  in  the  naval  history  of  the  New  World 
— borne  by  a  Jew  of  Messina,  who  was  educated  at 
Salerno  and  MontpeUier,  and  whose  translation  of  the 
"  Continent"  of  Rhazes,  made  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  was  dedicated  to  Charles  of  Anjou, 
brother  of  Louis  IX.,  King  of  France. 

Students  of  both  sexes  were  permitted  to  enjoy  the 
rare  advantages  afforded  by  the  School  of  Salerno; 
no  prejudice  hampered  the  acquisition  by  woman  of 
medical  knowledge,  in  whose  application  her  natural 
acuteness  and  sympathy  rendered  her  remarkably  pro- 
ficient and  successful.  Many  female  physicians  rose 
to  great  eminence  in  the  different  departments  of  their 
profession  as  lecturers,  chemists,  operators:  among 
them  the  names  of  Rebecca,  who  wrote  on  fevers  and 
the  embryo;  Abella,  on  generation  and  prenatal  life; 
Trotula,  on  the  Materia  Medica,  hernia,  and  obstet- 
rics; Mercuriade,  on  general  surgery;  and  Costanza 
Colenda,  whose  scientific  accompUshments,  as  well  as 
her  beauty,  made  her  famous  in  Europe,  have  de- 
scended to  our  time.  A  college  of  midwifery  existed 
at  Salerno,  whose  graduates  were  subjected  to  exami- 
nations fully  as  strict  as  those  required  of  candidates 
for  medical  honors,  and  who,  sworn  to  fidelity,  en- 
joyed a  lucrative  practice  in  the  opulent  families  of 
Naples  and  Messina.  Although  a  lofty  sense  of  pro- 
fessional etiquette  distinguished  the  faculty  of  Sa- 
lerno, imperial  supervision,  which,  under  Frederick, 
found  nothing  too  minute  for  its  attention,  carefully 
protected  the  public  from  extortion.  Fees  were  fixed 
by  law;  their  amounts  were  regulated  by  circum- 
stances. Even  the  ordinary  number  of  visits  required 
in  a  given  time  was  defined;   and  attendance  was 


MooBisH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  51 

accorded  without  charge  to  the  poor.  In  our  age, 
so  prolific  of  professional  incompetence,  the  exalted 
rank  and  profound  attainments  of  the  graduates  of 
the  Salemitan  school  may  well  excite  astonishment; 
amidst  the  darkness  of  mediaeval  ignorance  it  was  the 
educational  and  literary  phenomenon  of  Europe. 

A  generous  patron  of  every  art  and  occupation 
which  could  embellish  his  domains,  benefit  his  subjects, 
or  enrich  his  treasury,  the  Emperor  gave  also  much 
attention  to  great  public  works, — ^the  fortification  of 
cities,  the  improvement  of  harbors,  the  construction 
of  highways.  His  palaces  disclosed  a  marked  parti- 
ality for  Moorish  customs  and  Moorish  architecture. 
Some  of  these  beautiful  edifices  had  come  down  from 
the  Saracen  domination,  but  many  were  constructed 
after  the  plans  of  the  royal  architect,  who  personally 
superintended  their  erection.  They  were  finished  with 
costly  marbles  and  adorned  with  bas-reliefs,  statues, 
and  paintings.  The  eagles  of  Germany  were  sculp- 
tured over  their  portals.  Outworks  of  vast  extent 
defended  their  approaches.  In  all  were  courts  and 
gardens  odorous  with  the  blossoms  of  jasmine  and 
orange  and  surroimded  by  secluded  apartments  des- 
tined for  the  occupants  of  the  imperial  seraglio.  At- 
tached to  some  of  these  delightful  retreats  were  exten- 
sive menageries,  aviaries,  and  miniature  lakes  filled 
with  gold  and  silver  fish.  There  was  no  appliance  of 
Oriental  luxury,  no  means  which  could  contribute  to 
the  gratification  of  the  senses,  that  was  not  to  be  found 
in  the  Sicilian  palaces  of  Frederick  II.  In  the  foun- 
dation of  new  cities,  extensive  districts  were  depopu- 
lated to  provide  them  with  inhabitants.  This  arbitrary 
proceeding  was  often  a  measure  of  profound  policy, 
which  insured  the  good  behavior  of  a  turbulent  popu- 
lation that,  removed  from  the  influence  of  former 
associations,  transplanted  among  strangers,  and  re- 
garded by  their  new  neighbors  with  suspicion  and  hos- 


} 


52  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

tility,  were  rendered  incapable  of  serious  mischief.  In 
this  manner  was  established  the  Saracen  colony  of 
Lucera,  whose  members,  composed  of  rebellious  Mus- 
sulmans of  Sicily,  became,  soon  after  their  settlement, 
the  most  faithfiil  subjects  of  Frederick  and  the  chief 
support  of  the  imperial  throne. 

That  city  was  built  on  the  slope  of  the  Apennines, 
in  a  location  most  advantageous  for  both  the  purposes 
of  commerce  and  defence.  Its  citadel  was  a  mile  in 
circuit  and  protected  by  fortifications  of  enormous 
strength.  In  the  centre  stood  a  lofty  tower,  at  once 
the  palace  and  the  treasury  of  the  Emperor.  Fred- 
erick neglected  no  opportunity  of  gratifying  the  pride 
and  confirming  the  attachment  of  his  Saracen  sub- 
jects. The  spoils  of  the  Papal  states  were  lavished 
upon  them.  The  trade  of  the  colony  was  encouraged 
by  every  available  means.  Armorers  and  workers  in 
the  precious  metals  were  imported  from  Syria.  From 
Egypt  came  laborers  highly  skilled  in  horticulture. 
Great  orchards  were  planted  in  the  environs.  The 
soldiers  of  the  imperial  body-guard  were  Moslems  of 
Lucera.  Splendidly  uniformed  and  mounted,  they 
were  constantly  on  duty  at  the  palace,  on  the  march, 
in  the  camp.  Conspicuous  in  the  funeral  escort  of  the 
deceased  monarch,  their  duties  were  only  relinquished 
at  the  grave. 

The  maintenance  of  this  infidel  stronghold  in  the 
heart  of  Christian  Europe  was  a  standing  reproach  to 
the  Papacy;  and  the  horror  of  the  clergy  was  aggra- 
vated by  the  knowledge  that  churches  had  been  de- 
molished to  supply  it  with  building  materials;  that 
the  revenues  of  rich  and  populous  districts  were  di- 
verted through  its  agency  from  the  coffers  of  the 
cathedral  and  the  monastery;  that  it  enjoyed  exclu- 
sive and  valuable  commercial  privileges;  and  that, 
worst  of  all,  it  was  able  at  a  moment's  notice  to  furnish 
more  than  twenty  thousand  well-equipped,  valiant. 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  58 

and  incorruptible  soldiers  to  the  armies  of  the  Em- 
peror, 

The  patronage  of  letters,  which  distinguished  this 
accomplished  sovereign,  is  not  the  least  of  his  titles  to 
renown.  No  prince  ever  sought  out  books  and  manu- 
scripts with  greater  assiduity,  or  more  strenuously 
endeavored,  by  the  bestowal  of  scholastic  honors  and 
pecuniary  emoluments,  to  attract  the  learned  to  his 
court.  Nationality,  creed,  partisanship,  feudal  en- 
mity, private  grudges,  were  alike  forgotten  in  the 
friendly  contest  for  literary  pre-eminence.  In  the 
royal  antechambers,  in  the  halls  of  the  University,  no 
student  was  entitled  to  precedence,  save  only  through 
his  established  claim  to  mental  superiority.  The  in- 
cessant rivalry  of  many  acute  and  highly  cultivated 
intellects,  stimulated  by  rewards  and  unhampered  by 
restrictions,  was  productive  of  results  most  important 
for  the  revival  of  letters  and  the  future  benefit  of 
humanity.  Great  advances  were  made  in  all  depart- 
ments of  knowledge, — chemistry,  natural  history, 
botany,  poetry,  mathematics.  The  famous  scholar, 
Michael  Scott,  whose  rare  attainments  contemporane- 
ous ignorance  attributed  to  magic,  and  whose  simple 
tomb  in  Melrose  Abbey  awakens  to-day  the  veneration 
of  every  educated  and  appreciative  traveller,  was  em- 
ployed by  the  Emperor  as  a  translator  of  the  classics, 
and  carried  to  Palermo  vast  stores  of  learning  ac- 
quired in  the  schools  of  the  Spanish  Moslems.  Theo- 
dore, called  "  The  Philosopher,"  published  treatises  on 
geometry  and  astrology;  John  of  Palermo  wrote  on 
arithmetical  problems;  Leonardo  Fibonacci  brought 
to  the  general  notice  of  Europe  the  science  of  algebra 
as  known  and  used  in  modem  schools;  the  versatile 
Pietro  de  Vinea,  statesman,  jurist,  orator,  amused  his 
leisure  in  the  composition  of  the  first  Italian  lyric 
poetry,  and  of  epistolary  correspondence  unsurpassed, 
in  any  age,  for  perspicuity,  ease,  and  elegance  of 


54  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

diction.  Frederick  himself  wrote  amorous  somiets, 
and  published  in  Latin  a  work  on  hawking  and  birds 
of  prey,  which  is  even  now  an  authority  on  the  sub- 
ject. The  apocryphal  book,  De  Tribus  Impostoribus, 
an  alleged  compendium  of  blasphemy  and  vileness, 
attributed  to  him  by  the  clergy  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
is  now  known  to  have  been  an  invention  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal malice  to  blacken  a  character  only  too  vulnerable 
to  such  attacks.  At  the  Sicilian  court  was  formed  that 
melodious  and  graceful  idiom  afterwards  employed 
with  such  success  by  Petrarch,  Dante,  and  Boccaccio. 
The  political,  social,  and  literary  revolutions  of  seven 
centuries  have  not  materially  altered  the  grammatical 
construction  or  orthography  of  the  beautiful  language 
spoken  and  sung  by  the  knights  and  ladies  of  Pa- 
lermo. The  enduring  fame  of  such  an  achievement 
far  exceeds  in  value  and  utiUty  the  temporary  and 
barren  distinctions  obtained  by  tiie  gaining  of  battles, 
the  sack  of  cities,  the  plunder  of  baronial  strongholds, 
and  the  humiliation  of  popes. 

Such  was  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.,  and  such  the 
civilization  which,  inspired  by  Moslem  precept,  tradi- 
tion, and  example,  his  commanding  genius  established 
in  Southern  Europe.  Not  only  was  he  the  most  intel- 
ligent, but  he  was  the  most  powerful  and  illustrious 
sovereign  of  his  age.  In  addition  to  the  imperial  dig- 
nity, he  possessed  the  titles  of  King  of  Naples  and 
Sicily,  of  Lombardy,  of  Poland,  of  Bohemia,  of  Hun- 
gary, of  Denmark,  of  Sardinia,  of  Aries,  and  of 
Jerusalem.  In  birth  and  afSnity  he  was  first  among 
the  great  potentates  of  the  earth.  He  was  the  grand- 
son of  the  famous  Barbarossa  and  of  King  Roger  of 
Sicily.  He  was  the  uncle  of  Jaime  I.  of  Aragon,  Lo 
Conquerador.  He  was  the  father-in-law  of  the  Greek 
Emperor  of  Nicea.  He  was  the  son-in-law  of  the 
Latin  Emperor  of  Constantinople.  He  was  the 
brother-in-law  of  the  King  of  England.     His  rela- 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  ExmoFE  55 

tions  with  the  Sultan  of  Egypt,  dictated,  in  a  meas- 
ure, by  state  policy,  but  for  the  most  part  prompted 
by  personal  admiration,  were  of  the  most  social  and 
friendly  character.  He  exchanged  gifts  with  the 
chief  of  the  execrated  Ismailian  sect  known  as  the 
"  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain."  Community  of  ideas, 
tastes,  languages,  and  mercantile  interests,  which  he 
shared  with  Mohammedan  rulers,  confirmed  the  inti- 
macy already  long  existing  between  the  Kingdom  of 
Sicily  and  ihe  fragments  of  the  Hispano-Arab  em- 
pire. His  authority  was  respected  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean to  the  Baltic;  his  matrimonial  connections 
made  his  influence  felt  from  the  banks  of  the  Nile  to 
the  Pillars  of  Hercules.  It  was  this  power,  exercised 
over  a  territory  of  vast  extent  and  imlimited  resources, 
added  to  a  consciousness  of  pre-eminent  ability,  that 
suggested  to  Frederick  a  renewal  of  the  ancient  Car- 
lovingian  jurisdiction,  and  the  daring  but  imprudent 
attempt,  by  usurping  the  prerogatives  of  the  Papacy, 
to  realize  a  dream  of  more  than  imperial  ambition. 

That  dream  contemplated  the  foundation  of  a  na- 
tional, schismatical  church,  of  which  he  was  to  be  the 
head  and  Pietro  de  Vinea  the  vicar.  The  Pope  was 
to  be  restricted  to  the  exercise  of  spiritual  functions, 
and  finally  deposed.  In  the  Emperor  were  to  be 
centred  all  the  glory,  the  majesty,  the  sanctity,  of  an 
omnipotent  ruler,  presumably  responsible  only  to  the 
Almighty;  really  the  sole  arbiter  of  the  religious 
professions  and  the  actions  of  mankind.  How  the 
demands  of  such  a  system,  which  must  necessarily 
be  maintained,  to  a  certain  extent,  by  intellectual 
coercion,  could  be  reconciled  with  the  broad  and 
eqiiitable  tolerance  which  was  for  the  most  part  the 
distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  policy  of  Fred- 
erick, does  not  appear.  The  claim  was,  as  has  already 
been  mentioned,  that  ecclesiastical  supremacy  was 
vested  in  the  secular  power  of  the  empire,  and  dated 


56  History  of  the 

from  the  time  of  the  Roman  emperors.  They  were 
the  Supreme  Pontiffs  from  whom  the  Pope  derived 
his  title,  but  not  his  authority.  That  oflSce  was  merged 
into,  and  was  inferior  to,  the  imperial  dignity.  Its 
inheritance  by  the  monarch  of  Italy  rested  upon  a 
more  secure  basis  than  the  ambiguous  and  disputed 
commission  alleged  to  have  been  conferred  upon  the 
fisherman  of  Galilee.  Its  validity  had  been  strength- 
ened by  centuries  of  prescription.  It  had  been  exer- 
cised by  many  generations  of  sovereigns.  The  minis- 
trations of  the  chief  priest  of  a  sect  embracing  millions 
of  worshippers,  the  revered  intermediary  between  the 
devotee  and  Heaven,  are  only  too  easily  conf  oimded 
with  the  attributes  of  divinity.  These  advantages 
were  early  recognized  and  dQigently  improved  by 
Constantine.  The  Byzantine  emperor  was  the  head 
of  the  Greek  Church.  In  Mohanmied  temporal  and 
spiritual  functions  were  united.  Such  examples,  con- 
stantly present  to  the  mind  of  Frederick,  exerted  no 
small  influence  in  determining  his  course.  In  the  eyes 
of  his  Sicilian  subjects,  the  claim  of  the  Imperial 
Crown  to  religious  supremacy  was  regarded  as  a  royal 
prerogative,  which  had  been  suspended  but  never  re- 
linquished. The  usurpation  of  the  Papal  power  was 
a  favorite  project  of  European  monarchs  in  succeed- 
ing ages.  It  was  seriously  meditated  by  Philippe  le 
Bel  in  France  diuring  the  fourteenth  century.  It 
was  effected  by  Henry  VIII.  in  England  during  the 
sixteenth  century.  The  defiance  of  the  Pope  by  the 
great  German  Emperor  was,  even  at  the  distance  of 
three  hundred  years,  one  of  the  inspiring  causes  of 
the  Reformation.  The  spirit  of  intellectual  liberty, 
oppressed  at  first,  was  victorious  in  the  end. 

The  genius  of  Frederick  II.  was  five  centuries  in 
advance  of  his  time.  His  most  intelligent  contempo- 
raries were  incapable  of  understanding  his  motives 
or  of  appreciating  his  efforts  for  the  regeneration  of 


MooBisH  Empire  in  Europe  57 

humanity.  No  individual  of  that  age  accomplished 
so  much  for  civilization.  He  improved  the  condition 
of  every  class  of  society  in  his  dominions.  He  dif- 
fused the  learning  of  the  Arabs  throughout  Europe. 
He  imparted  a  new  impulse  to  the  cause  of  education 
in  distant  countries  not  subject  to  his  sway;  an  im- 
pulse which,  while  it  was  often  impeded,  was  never 
whoDy  suppressed.  His  liberal  ideas  excited  the  ab- 
horrence of  the  devout.  His  superstitions  evoked  the 
anathemas  of  the  clergy.  In  his  expedition  for  the 
recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  his  guards  and  coim- 
dllors  were  Mohammedans.  He  attended  service  in 
the  mosques.  He  knighted  the  Emir  Fakr-al-Din  at 
Acre.  He  feasted  the  envoy  of  the  Sheik  of  the  As- 
sassins at  Amalfi.  At  his  court  the  astrologer  was  a 
more  important  personage  than  the  logothete. 

Under  the  administration  of  this  great  prince  per- 
sonal merit  was  the  best  title  to  official  promotion. 
His  most  eminent  ministers  were  of  plebeian  origin. 
From  them  he  exacted  unremitting  attention  to  their 
duties.  His  suggestions  to  his  ambassadors  recall  the 
maxims  of  Machiavelli.  As  a  negotiator,  he  had  no 
rivals  in  an  age  of  shrewd  and  crafty  politicians.  His 
erudition  was  vast,  varied,  and  profound.  To  aid  the 
study  of  natural  history  he  collected  extensive  menag- 
eries. He  read  medical  works  and  prescribed  rules  of 
hygiene  for  his  family  and  household.  With  his  own 
hands  he  drew  the  plans  for  his  palace  at  Capua. 
Magnificent  hospitals,  aqueducts,  bridges,  castles, 
arsenals,  arose  in  the  imperial  domains  of  Sicily 
and  Italy. 

With  all  his  accomplishments,  Frederick  was  singu- 
larly deficient  in  military  ability  and  generalship.  He 
cared  more  for  the  pomp  than  for  the  victories  of 
war.  His  crusade  was  a  campaign  of  diplomacy. 
The  defeat  he  sustained  at  the  hands  of  the  Parme- 
sans, and  which  shook  the  foundations  of  his  throne. 


68  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

was  effected  by  a  rabble  of  peasants  and  women  who 
attacked  his  camp  while  he  was  absent  on  a  himting 
excursion. 

The  gorgeous  court  of  Palermo,  with  its  stately 
ceremonial,  its  heterodox  opinions,  its  intellectual  at- 
mosphere, and  the  predominant  Moslem  influence 
which  controlled  its  policy,  prescribed  its  customs,  and 
contributed  largely  to  its  importance,  was  at  once  the 
envy  and  the  scandal  of  Christendom.  The  bulk 
of  the  imperial  armies  was  composed  of  Saracens. 
Philosophers  and  statesmen  of  the  latter  nationahty 
often  engrossed,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others,  the 
confidence  and  intimacy  of  the  Emperor.  His  dif- 
ferent consorts,  in  turn,  subjected  to  Oriental  restric- 
tions, were  attended  by  guards  of  African  eunuchs, 
colossal  in  stature,  hideous  in  feature,  splendidly 
apparelled.  His  harems,  luxuriant  establishments, 
not  confined  to  Palermo,  but  scattered  through  the 
cities  of  Southern  Italy,  were  filled  with  Moorish 
beauties  from  Syria,  Egypt,  Morocco,  and  Spain.  A 
number  of  their  occupants  always  formed  part  of  his 
retinue  in  both  peace  and  war.  They  journeyed  after 
the  fashion  of  the  East,  in  closed  litters  borne  by 
gayly  caparisoned  camels.  Arab  ladies,  as  remarkable 
for  wit  and  learning  as  for  their  personal  charms, 
mingled  freely  with  the  brilliant  society  of  the  capital. 
Among  the  diversions  of  the  court  were  the  dances 
of  the  East,  feats  of  jugglers  and  buffoons,  amatory 
improvisations  of  minnesinger  and  troubadour,  games, 
falconry,  literary  contests,  magnificent  banquets.  In 
these  merry  assemblies,  where  pleasiu-e  reigned  su- 
preme, the  sensual  was,  however,  never  permitted  to 
prevail  over  the  intellectual;  they  were  enlivened  by 
philosophical  discussions,  by  the  application  of  prov- 
erbs, by  the  stories  of  travellers,  by  the  recitation  of 
ballads. 

The  personal  aspect  of  Frederick  did  not  corre- 


Moorish  Empike  in  Eueope  59 

spend  to  the  expectations  of  those  who  had  formed 
an  ideal  from  the  fame  of  his  talents  and  the  extent 
of  his  erudition.  His  stature  was  short,  his  shoulders 
bent,  his  form  ungainly  and  corpulent.  He  was  bald 
and  near-sighted.  His  reddish  beard  indicated  the 
lineage  of  the  Hohenstaufens.  So  insignificant  was 
his  appearance,  that  an  Arab  writer,  who  saw  him 
at  Jerusalem,  asserts,  with  astonishment  and  contempt, 
that  if  he  had  been  exposed  for  sale  as  a  slave  he 
would  not  have  brought  two  hundred  drachms  of 
silver.  The  general  lustre  of  his  character  was  marred 
by  many  serious  and  fatal  defects.  He  was  tyranni- 
cal, perfidious,  hypocritical,  superstitious,  and  inordi- 
nately dissolute,  even  in  a  licentious  age.  The  domestic 
relations  of  the  greatest  of  mediaeval  emperors  were 
the  reproach  of  the  Papacy  and  the  horror  of  Chris- 
tian Europe.  Like  the  infamous  Marquis  de  Sade, 
he  considered  tears  and  sufi^ering  the  most  desirable 
prelude  to  hbidinous  pleasures.  The  festivals  of  the 
imperial  palace  of  Palermo  were  enlivened  by  the 
performances  of  the  singing-  and  dancing-girls  of  the 
East.  European  females  of  the  same  profession, 
during  the  Crusade,  travelled  in  the  royal  train  to 
Acre,  where  the  novelty  of  their  appearance  and  cos- 
tume amused  the  idle  moments  of  tiie  Moslem  princes 
of  Egjrpt  and  Syria.  Nothing  in  the  career  of  Fred- 
erick provoked  the  ire  of  the  clergy  more  than  this 
concession  to  infidel  curiosity.  The  gigantic  Nubians 
who  watched  over  the  Empress,  and  whose  faces  were 
compared  to  "  ancient  masks,"  awakened  the  amaze- 
ment of  foreign  travellers  at  the  Sicilian  court. 

The  most  frightful  torments,  whose  ingenious 
cruelty  was  long  remembered  with  fear  and  hatred, 
were  inflicted  on  his  victims.  Many  were  dismem- 
bered by  wild  horses;  some  were  crushed  by  ponder- 
ous cloi^s  of  lead;  others  were  slowly  roasted  by  fire 
applied  to  brazen  helmets  in  which  their  heads  had 


60  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

been  encased.  The  special  objects  of  these  punish- 
ments were  the  partisans  of  the  Pope,  who  were 
charged  with  the  offences  of  both  heresy  and  rebellion. 
In  the  orders  issued  to  his  agents,  he  showed  that  he 
was  an  adept  in  the  arts  of  deception.  Devoted  to 
the  forbidden  science  of  astrology,  he  became  the 
dupe  of  charlatans;  and  even  the  consimtmiation  of 
his  marriage  with  the  Princess  of  England  was  de- 
ferred until  the  position  of  the  planets  was  declared 
to  be  favorable.  His  genius  was  essentially  Italian. 
From  eariy  childhood  he  had  been  familiar  with  the 
arts,  the  schemes,  the  casuistry,  of  unprincipled  priests 
and  politicians.  In  the  formation  of  his  character 
these  associations  had  exercised  a  most  pernicious  in- 
fluence. His  education  and  experience  had  led  him 
to  doubt  the  existence  of  the  virtues  of  truth,  patriot- 
ism, integrity.  He  never  forgave  an  injury  to  him- 
self or  an  insult  to  his  dignity.  He  sacrificed,  without 
compunction,  ministers  who  had  long  served  him  in 
the  most  responsible  employments,  who  had  profited 
by  his  generosity,  who  had  shared  his  confidence.  His 
utter  want  of  feeling  is  revealed  by  a  saying  attrib- 
uted to  him  which  is  more  remarkable  for  its  energy 
than  its  elegance,  "  I  have  never  fattened  a  hog 
except  to  obtain  its  lard." 

His  philosophical  indifference  to  religion  did  not 
prevent  him  from  posing  as  the  representative  of  the 
orthodox  faith  and  the  restorer  of  primitive  Chris- 
tianity. He  compared  himself  to  Elias  and  to  Christ. 
He  humbly  solicited  enrolment  among  the  monks  of 
Casamara.  In  a  communication  to  the  successor  of 
St.  Francis  of  Assis,  he  declared  his  belief  in  the 
Scriptures  and  his  hope  of  eternal  salvation.  He 
presided  over  important  religious  festivals  and  as- 
sumed the  most  prominent  part  in  the  celebration  of 
their  ceremonies.  On  his  death-bed,  he  wished,  in 
token  of  his  pretended  reverence  for  the  humblest 


Moorish  Emfibe  in  Eubope  61 

ministers  of  the  Gospel,  to  be  clothed  with  the  cowl 
of  a  Cistercian  friar.  Policy  caused  him  to  thus  pro- 
fess allegiance  to  the  Church,  but  there  is  little  doubt 
that  he  was  an  unbeliever,  perhaps  an  atheist.  In 
unguarded  moments  he  scoffed  at  all  religion.  One 
of  his  favorite  jests  was  in  ridicule  of  the  Eucharist. 
He  criticised  Divine  Wisdom  for  the  selection  of  the 
barren  land  of  Palestine,  instead  of  the  rich  and  fer- 
tile Sicily,  as  the  abode  of  the  chosen  people.  In  the 
very  cradle  of  Christianity,  at  the  spot  once  sanctified 
by  the  presence  of  the  Saviour,  he  edified  his  Moslem 
hosts  by  comparing  the  throngs  of  pilgrims  who 
crowded  to  the  shrine  to  droves  of  the  most  stupid  and 
unclean  of  animals.  His  unflinching  antagonism  to 
the  Papacy  caused  the  clergy  and  the  rabble  to  regard 
him  as  Antichrist.  He  was  deposed  by  the  Coimdl 
of  Lyons;  was  four  times  excommunicated  by  the 
Pope;  and  was  repeatedly  disciplined  by  inferior 
prelates.  In  the  implacable  contest  which  broke  his 
power  and  destroyed  his  house,  the  ecclesiastical  au- 
tocracy of  Rome,  for  the  moment,  triumphed.  The 
civilization  he  had  fostered  was  checked  and  ob- 
scured. His  treasures  were  scattered.  His  libraries 
disappeared.  The  last  of  his  race  perished  ignomini- 
ously  on  the  scaffold.  But  the  spirit  of  independent 
thought  which  he  promoted,  and  whose  exercise  he 
bequeathed  to  posterity,  survived  the  attack  of  intoler- 
ance and  tyranny,  to  be  revived  in  a  better  and  a  more 
auspicious  age. 

The  South  of  France,  not  as  yet  incorporated  into 
the  monarchy,  but  existing  as  a  semi-independent 
state,  and  governed  by  the  Count  of  Toulouse,  one 
of  the  most  powerful  feudatories  in  Europe,  was  the 
scene  of  another  great  mediaeval  revolt  of  the  human 
mind  against  Papal  despotism  and  intellectual  servi- 
tude. From  a  period  so  remote  that  its  beginning  is 
lost  in  tradition,  that  region  had  been  the  seat  of  a 


62  History  of  the 

splendid  civilization^  at  once  the  exemplar  and  the 
pride  of  antiquity.  The  Phoenicians  had  early  estab- 
lished trading-posts  on  its  shores,  and  had  introduced, 
with  the  commercial  policy  and  enterprise  of  their 
race,  the  arts,  the  learning,  and  the  culture  which  had 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  wealth  and  renown  of 
Carthage.  To  the  Phoenicians  succeeded  the  Greeks 
of  Phocaea,  that  flourishing  Ionian  seaport  which,  for 
dignity,  elegance  of  manners,  and  erudition,  ranked 
among  the  most  famous  cities  of  the  Grecian  name. 
Its  principal  colony,  MassiUa,  exercised  dominion  over 
nearly  all  of  the  territory  south  of  the  Loire;  a  ter- 
ritory already  rich  and  populous,  and  containing, 
among  the  twenty-five  important  cities  subject  to  its 
jurisdiction,  such  great  and  opulent  conununities  as 
Monaco,  Nice,  Aries,  Nimes,  Beziers,  Avignon.  Un- 
aided by  extraneous  support,  the  people  of  Massilia, 
in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  barbarian  neighbors  and 
jealous  rivals,  preserved  their  poUtical  and  mercantile 
importance  until  their  conquest  by  Cssar  degraded 
their  conunonwealth  to  a  subordinate  rank  among  the 
provinces  composing  the  gigantic  fabric  of  the  Ro- 
man Empire.  The  policy  of  that  great  soldier  de- 
spoiled them  of  their  dependencies,  crippled  their 
resources,  and  turned  to  letters  and  the  arts  the  restless 
spirit  which  had  formerly  been  engrossed  by  the  pur- 
suits of  commerce  and  the  exercise  of  arms.  Before 
its  i)olitical  annihilation,  the  colony  of  Massilia,  in 
extent,  in  population,  in  wealth,  and  in  intelligence, 
ranked  higher  than  any  Grecian  republic  that  had  ever 
existed,  save  Athens  alone.  Its  possessions  were  not 
acquired  by  conquest.  They  were  gradually  absorbed 
through  the  imperceptible  influence  of  superior  knowl- 
edge, the  example  of  prosperity  and  luxury,  the 
acuteness  of  sagacious  and  aggressive  rulers,  the  ex- 
hibition of  magnificent  monuments  of  artistic  genius. 
Under  the  Romans,  this  region,  designated  as  Narbon- 


Moorish  Empire  in  tluBOPE  68 

nese  Gaul,  was  one  of  the  most  flourishing  provinces 
of  the  empire.  Its  literary  culture  was  proverbial.  Its 
schools  were  famous.  It  is  mentioned  by  Livy  as 
having  preserved  without  contamination  the  arts,  the 
manners,  and  the  laws  of  Greece.  The  ancient  polity 
of  Massilia  is  eulogized  by  Cicero  as  a  scheme  of 
almost  ideal  perfection.  The  philosophers  of  that  city 
enjoyed  such  a  reputation  for  learning,  that  the  pa- 
tronage of  such  of  the  Roman  youth  as  were  ambitious 
of  the  most  finished  education  was  equally  divided 
between  it  and  Athens.  The  first  three  professors  of 
Latin  rhetoric  at  Rome  were  Gauls  educated  at  Mas- 
silia. Its  intellectual  progress  was  greatly  assisted 
by  the  mercantile  spirit  of  its  citizens,  whose  faculties 
were  developed  and  enlarged  by  constant  and  familiar 
intercourse  with  other  nations.  Its  navigators  pos- 
sessed all  the  skill  and  activity  of  their  Phoenician 
ancestors.  Their  vessels  were  seen  on  the  western 
coast  of  Africa,  in  the  Euxine,  in  the  Baltic,  in  the 
distant  fjords  of  Norway.  Their  factories  and  their 
agents  were  established  in  Germany  and  Britain. 
Their  internal  trade  was  most  extensive  and  impor- 
tant. They  traversed  the  course  of  the  Rhone  and 
the  Loire  from  their  sources  to  the  sea.  Every  tribe 
in  communication  with  those  waterways  paid  tribute 
to  their  shrewdness  and  shared  the  benefits  of  their 
experience.  The  Greek  language  was  familiar  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Gaul;  it  was  even  adopted  and  used 
by  the  Druidical  priesthood,  and  eventually  became 
the  general  medium  of  commercial  and  social  inter- 
course. The  dark  and  cruel  superstitions  and  legends 
of  the  country  were  supplanted  by  the  elegant  and 
graceful  fictions  of  Paganism;  by  the  songs,  the 
dances,  the  floral  games,  the  pomp  of  sacrifice,  the 
joyous  festivals,  which  characterized  the  religious 
ceremonials  of  Greece  and  Italy.  The  existence  of 
sudi  conditions  could  not  fail  to  exert  a  marked 


64  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

effect  upon  the  minds  of  a  people,  barbarous  indeed, 
yet  highly  susceptible  to  impressions  which  appealed 
equally  to  its  imagination  and  its  interest.  Narbon- 
nese  Gaul,  under  the  emperors,  maintained  the  literary 
and  artistic  pre-eminence  which  had,  from  time  im- 
memorial, distinguished  it  among  the  provinces  of 
Western  Europe.  The  most  copious,  elegant,  and 
euphonic  of  languages  was  still  spoken  throughout 
the  various  mimicipalities  that  formerly  acknowledged 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Massilian  Republic.  The  capi- 
tal was  especially  renowned  for  its  philosophers  and 
physicians;  for  its  patronage  of  letters;  for  the  re- 
finement of  its  society;  and  for  the  number  and 
excellence  of  its  educational  institutions,  which,  in  the 
estimation  of  many  distinguished  Romans,  took  pre- 
cedence of  the  schools  of  Greece.  Imperial  favor 
bestowed  upon  the  Narbonnese  province  monuments 
whose  perfection  was  eminently  worthy  of  the  taste 
and  splendor  of  the  Augustan  age.  Its  cities  were 
adorned  with  beautiful  temples,  porticos,  and  theatres. 
In  the  gardens  were  peristyles  of  precious  marble, 
mosaic  pavements,  superb  f  oimtains,  vases  filled  with 
flowers,  and  statues  of  gilded  bronze.  Sumptuous 
baths  administered  to  the  luxury  of  the  populace.  In 
the  circus,  the  chariot  race  displayed  a  pomp  but  little 
inferior  to  that  exhibited  by  the  imperial  spectacles  of 
Rome.  Aqueducts  of  colossal  dimensions  brought, 
for  a  distance  of  many  leagues,  the  water  demanded 
by  the  requirements  of  an  inunense  population.  In 
no  portion  of  the  Roman  world  have  such  a  variety 
of  the  architectural  memorials  of  classic  elegance 
survived  as  in  the  district  of  Provence  and  Langue- 
doc.  From  the  magnificent  ruins  that  still  remain, 
we  are  enabled  to  form  a  grand  but  inadequate  idea 
of  the  structures  created  by  imperial  munificence  and 
Grecian  taste  which  have  perished  by  the  neglect  and 
the  violence  of  thirteen  centuries.    After  the  Roman 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  66 

came  the  Goth,  and  then  the  Arab,  himself  at  first 
but  a  marauder.  By  degrees,  however,  his  nobler  in- 
stincts obtained  the  mastery  over  his  love  of  rapine; 
his  predatory  strongholds  were  transformed  into 
centres  of  trade;  and  with  the  habits  and  religion  of 
the  Orient  were  introduced  all  the  benefits  and  all 
the  vices  of  its  voluptuous  existence.  The  Moorish 
principality  of  Narbonne  was  subject  to  the  Western 
Emirate  only  forty  years;  yet,  during  that  short 
period,  the  impressions  produced  by  Moorish  occu- 
pancy were  so  deeply  stamped  upon  the  mental  and 
physical  characteristics  of  the  population  that  no  sub- 
sequent revolutions  have  ever  been  able  to  entirely 
efface  them.  The  practical  genius  of  the  Arab,  whidi 
considered  utility  as  the  first  and  most  valuable  of 
all  the  objects  of  civilization,  was  again  exhibited  in 
the  improvements  applied  to  all  the  arts  and  avoca- 
tions of  life  which  sprang  up  in  the  track  of  his  vic- 
torious armies.  The  Oriental  principles  of  agricul- 
ture, with  its  painstaking  tillage  of  the  soil,  its  perfect 
irrigating  system,  its  introduction  of  foreign  plants, 
were  applied  with  wonderful  success  to  the  delightful 
region  watered  by  the  Bhone  and  the  Garonne.  Many 
varieties  of  grain,  including  the  buckwheat,  originally 
brought  from  Persia,  and  which  at  that  time  obtained 
its  significant  name  of  sarrasin,  were  imported  from 
Spain.  The  bark  of  the  cork-tree,  still  one  of  the 
greatest  sources  of  wealth  to  Catalonia  and  Provence, 
was  then  first  made  known  to  Europe.  The  boundless 
evergreen  forests  on  the  slopes  of  the  Pyrenees  were 
utilized  for  the  manufacture  of  pitch  and  rosin.  In 
every  district,  the  breed  of  horses  was  improved  by 
crosses  with  the  best  blood  of  Arabia.  Innumerable 
articles  of  luxury  preserved  in  museums  and  private 
collections — ^beautiful  objects  of  silver,  ivory,  and 
crystal,  damascened  armor,  and  silken  robes — attest 
the  variety  and  excellence  of  the  Moorish  manuf  ac- 

VoL.  III.— 6 


66  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

tures.  The  popular  dances  and  other  amusements  of 
Southern  France  are  also  striking  reminiscences  of 
the  Moslem  ascendency.  While  Arabic  literature 
must  have  exercised  an  important  influence  upon  the 
public  mind  of  Provence  and  Languedoc,  no  histori- 
cal information  has  been  transmitted  to  us  relative  to 
its  character,  and  even  its  existence  during  this  period 
is  largely  a  matter  of  conjecture.  There  is  no  doubt, 
however,  concerning  the  effects  subsequently  pro- 
duced by  familiarity  with  Moorish  civilization,  estab- 
lished by  conquest  and  perpetuated  by  the  aid  of  mer- 
chants and  travellers.  The  learning,  the  elegance,  the 
refinement,  and  the  infidelity  of  the  court  of  Cordova 
were  carried  beyond  the  Pyrenees.  The  writings  of 
Averroes  and  other  Arabian  philosophers  were  studied 
with  pleasure  by  the  scholars  of  Southern  France. 
That  entire  region  was  more  Mohammedan  than 
Christian  and  more  infidel  than  either.  The  nobles 
adopted  polygamous  habits  and  maintained  harems 
filled  with  concubines.  A  thriving  trade  in  eunuchs 
was  carried  on  with  the  Spanish  Arabs,  whose  profits, 
it  was  notorious,  were  principally  engrossed  by  eccle- 
siastics. A  passionate  love  of  poetry  developed  the 
troubadour,  a  most  important  factor  of  European  in- 
tellectual progress,  and  the  counterpart  and  repre- 
sentative of  the  Arab  bard,  whose  improvisations  had, 
from  time  immemorial,  been  the  delight  of  the  emo- 
tional tribes  of  the  Desert.  A  language  infinitely 
sweeter  and  more  melodious  than  modem  French,  and 
exhibiting  a  strong  similarity  to  the  Italian  formed 
at  the  court  of  Frederick  II.,  became  the  vehicle  of 
charming  poetical  compositions,  which  satirized  the 
lives  of  the  priesthood,  recounted  the  achievements 
of  the  tournament  and  the  foray,  and  celebrated,  in 
graceful  and  rhythmic  hyperbole,  the  beauty  and 
fascinations  of  woman.  This  tongue,  known  as  the 
Langue  d'Oc,  while  indirectly  derived  from  the  Latin, 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  67 

owed,  in  fact,  nothing  to  classic  associations  or  influ- 
ence. It  was  the  first  of  the  numerous  family  of 
l&i^guages  and  dialects  of  Roman  origin  which,  during 
mediaeval  times,  attained  to  any  marked  degree  of 
perfection  in  grammatical  construction  or  in  elegance 
of  expression.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  it  only 
obtained  a  permanent  foothold  in  countries  once  sub- 
ject to  Arab  domination.  It  spread  eventually  all 
over  the  South  of  Europe.  It  was  spoken  in  Valencia, 
Barcelona,  and  the  Balearic  Isles,  whose  dialects  are 
now  corrupted  forms  of  the  ancient  Limousin.  The 
productions  of  which  it  formed  the  medium  were  read 
in  Italy,  Germany,  Sicily,  and  England.  It  adapted 
itself  with  such  ease  to  the  purposes  of  the  poet  that 
it  almost  seemed  constructed  especially  for  that  va- 
riety of  composition.  It  early  incurred  the  hostility 
of  ihe  Church  on  account  of  the  Albigensian  heresy; 
and  in  1248,  Innocent  IV.,  by  a  special  bull,  forbade 
its  study  to  all  good  Catholics.  The  rapidity  with 
which  it  was  perfected,  the  extent  of  its  distribution, 
the  number  of  provincial  dialects  to  which  it  gave  rise, 
the  richness  of  the  literature  which  adopted  it,  and 
the  suddenness  and  completeness  of  its  extinction  con- 
stitute one  of  the  most  interesting  and  extraordinary 
phenomena  in  the  annals  of  linguistics. 

The  literary  and  social'  condition  of  Southern 
France  was,  with  the  single  exception  of  Sicily,  which 
bore  to  it  a  remarkable  resemblance,  anomalous  among 
the  countries  of  civilized  Europe.  Its  population  was 
singularly  cosmopolitan;  half  a  score  of  races  had 
contributed  to  its  formation;  it  had  inherited  the  cult- 
ure of  the  Greek,  the  Roman,  the  Arab;  mixture  of 
Uood  and  comparison  of  creeds  had  produced  uni- 
versal toleration  of  belief  and  widespread  and  un- 
compromising skepticism.  In  its  courts,  its  schools, 
its  learned  professions,  Semitic  ideas,  traditions,  and 
influence  preponderated.     Not  a  few  Moslems  had 


68  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

established  themselves  in  the  cities  of  Nimes,  Nar- 
bonne,  and  Toulouse,  and  the  Jews  abounded  in  every 
community  which  afforded  encouragement  to  scien- 
tific attainments  or  f aciUties  for  traffic.  The  system 
of  public  instruction  was  essentially  Hebrew;  the 
faculty  of  the  famous  medical  school  of  Montpellier, 
the  successful  competitor  of  that  of  Salerno,  was  at 
first  principally  composed  of  Jews  and  Mohamme- 
dans, and  retained  for  centiuies,  amidst  foreign  con- 
quest and  domestic  convulsion,  the  impress  derived 
from  the  character  of  its  founders.  The  closest  rela- 
tions were  maintained  between  the  academies  of 
Languedoc  and  those  of  imperial  Sicily  and  Moorish 
Spain.  This  intimacy  was  strengthened  by  the  multi- 
plicity of  mercantile  transactions  arising  from  a  con- 
stant interchange  of  commodities  dependent  upon  a 
vast  and  profitable  trade.  The  capitals  of  Cordova, 
Seville,  and  Palermo  were  better  known  to  the  people 
of  Provence  than  any  of  the  Mediterranean  cities  to 
the  inland  towns  of  continental  Europe;  now,  great 
centres  of  wealth,  conmierce,  and  civilization;  then, 
despised  as  semi-barbarous  and  rarely  visited.  The 
continuance  of  this  friendly  intercourse  with  Moham- 
medan countries,  confirmed  at  once  by  congenial  pur- 
suits and  by  the  powerful  influence  of  pecuniary 
advantage,  was  portentous  in  its  efi^ects,  and  boded 
ill  to  the  propagation  of  Christianity  and  the  main- 
tenance of  ecclesiastical  discipline.  The  succession  of 
numerous  forms  of  worship,  distinct  in  their  origin, 
unlike  in  their  ceremonial,  irreconcilably  hostile  in 
their  polity,  each  asserting  divine  infallibility,  yet 
each,  in  turn,  overthrown  by  a  new  and  more  popular 
belief,  was  not  favorable  to  the  existence  of  any 
religion.  Strongly  attached  to  the  cheerful  festivals 
of  Paganism,  the  inhabitants  of  Southern  France  had 
embraced  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel  with  insincerity 
and  reluctance.    Their  disposition,  their  traditions,  the 


MooBi8H  Empibe  in  Eubofe  69 

souvenirs  of  classic  magnificence  and  beauty  which 
surrounded  them,  all  contributed  to  confirm  the  deeply 
grounded  affection  they  entertained  for  the  creed  of 
their  fathers.  Nowhere  else  in  Christendom  was  such 
a  spectacle  presented  of  all  that  is  attractive  to  the 
luxurious,  and  all  that  is  admired  by  the  intellectual, 
as  that  disclosed  by  the  life  of  the  polished  and  cor- 
rupt society  of  Southern  France.  That  entire  region 
was  subjected  to  the  highest  cultivation  of  which  the 
soil,  naturally  fertile  and  improved  by  every  resource 
of  scientific  agriculture,  was  susceptible.  The  cities, 
large  and  populous,  enjoyed  every  advantage  of 
wealth  which  could  be  derived  from  an  extensive 
traffic.  Beziers  had  sixty  thousand  inhabitants,  a 
larger  number  than  any  town  in  England.  Nimes, 
Aries,  Carcassonne,  were  but  little  inferior  in  size  and 
grandeur.  Every  commercial  device  was  familiar  to 
the  people.  Their  shrewdness  was  proverbial.  Their 
trade  was  enormous.  A  knowledge  of  banking  and 
bills  of  exchange,  with  many  important  fiscal  regu- 
lations, had  been  introduced  by  the  Jews  of  Barce- 
lona. 

Toulouse,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  licentious 
of  mediaeval  capitals,  was  the  focus  of  this  splendid 
civilization.  It  was  the  seat  of  the  Muses,  the  home 
of  chivalry,  the  goal  of  every  devotee  of  love  and 
of  ambition.  There  the  knightly  adventurer  sought 
distinction  in  the  tournament  and  the  tilt  of  reeds, 
martial  amusements  borrowed  from  the  Moor. 
Thither  journeyed  the  troubadour  and  the  jongleur, 
sure  of  hospitality  and  reward  in  palace  and  castle, 
in  the  comfortable  home  of  the  merchant,  in  the 
humble  dwelling  of  the  laborer.  There  was  crowned 
the  poet,  successful  in  the  literary  contest,  two  hun- 
dred years  before  the  laurel  was  placed  upon  the  brow 
of  Petrarch  in  the  Capitol  at  Rome.  There  were  held 
the  Courts  of  Love,  where  women  argued  and  deter- 


70  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

mined,  with  all  the  grave  impartiality  of  a  judicial 
tribmial,  questions  involving  the  laws  of  gallantry, 
their  observance  and  their  violation.  The  potentate, 
who,  imder  the  modest  title  of  count,  governed  this 
great  and  opulent  realm,  enjoyed  a  larger  measure 
of  authority  than  most  representatives  of  the  royal 
houses  of  Europe.  His  family  was  of  high  antiquity, 
and  its  rank  dated  back  for  many  centuries.  The  rich 
fiefs  of  Beziers,  Foix,  Quercy,  Montpellier,  and  Nar- 
bonne,  with  their  numerous  important  dependencies, 
acknowledged  his  authority  as  suzerain.  Wealthier 
than  any  of  his  Christian  contemporaries,  he  was  more 
powerful  in  all  the  attributes  of  monarchical  dignity 
than  the  King  of  France.  His  dominions  included  the 
greater  part  of  the  territory  south  of  the  Loire,  ami 
embraced  the  fertile  and  flourishing  districts  bounded 
by  the  Garonne,  the  Isere,  the  Mediterranean,  and  the 
Alps.  He  had  achieved  renown  in  the  Crusades.  His 
sword  had  won  for  him  the  principality  of  Tripoli. 
He  had  been  an  unsuccessful  but  prominent  competi- 
tor for  the  throne  of  Jerusalem.  In  his  public  rela- 
tions he  was  the  soul  of  chivalric  courtesy;  in  his 
personal  habits  a  fastidious  voluptuary;  in  belief  a 
skeptic;  in  tastes  a  Mohammedan.  The  conspicuous 
valor  he  displayed  on  the  fields  of  Palestine  was,  in 
some  degree,  neutralized  by  a  moral  cowardice  which 
instinctively  shrank  from  a  conflict  involving  the 
dearest  privileges  for  which  humanity  can  contend, 
— ^the  preservation  of  political  integrity  and  the  exer- 
cise of  the  right  of  intellectual  freedom.  Brave,  im- 
petuous, sensual,  vacillating,  and  insincere,  such  was 
Raymond  VI.,  Count  of  Toulouse,  the  representative 
of  the  most  polished  and  dissolute  state  in  Europe. 

The  political  organization  of  the  various  cities  and 
provinces  composing  the  County  of  Toulouse  pre- 
sented a  strange  anomaly.  Some  were,  in  all  but 
name,  republican;   their  magistrates,  under  the  title 


Moorish  Emfibe  in  Exjeope  71 

of  consuls,  administered  the  affairs  of  government, 
and  were  elected  by  the  public  voice  of  the  people. 
The  civil  regulations  of  others  partook  rather  of  the 
nature  of  feudal  tenures  in  which  the  most  oppressive 
privileges  had  been  relaxed  or  entirely  disdiarged. 
But  neither  the  feeble  copy  of  the  institutions  of 
ancient  Rome  nor  the  barbarous  laws  of  mediaeval 
tyranny  were  sufficient  to  compel  the  obedience  of 
such  a  heterogeneous  population.  The  authority  of 
the  elective  magistracy  was  frequently  defied.  The 
fealty  of  the  great  vassals  was  but  nominal.  The 
jurisdiction  of  the  suzerain  was,  under  various,  and 
sometimes  under  frivolous,  pretexts,  questioned  or  ig- 
n(»-ed.  There  was  no  organized  military  power  to 
enforce  the  mandates  of  the  ruling  authority.  Ener- 
vated by  pleasure,  the  people  of  Languedoc  and 
Provence  passed  their  existence  in  a  constant  round 
of  intellectual  diversions  and  refined  sensuality.  The 
martial  sports  of  the  chase  and  the  tourney  did  little 
but  recall  the  profession  of  arms,  once  the  only  occu- 
pation worthy  of  the  dignity  of  the  mediaeval  cava- 
lier. Thus,  broken  up  into  semi-independent  com- 
munities, destitute  of  military  resources,  and  incapable 
of  systematic  defence  or  united  action,  the  power  of 
the  Count  of  Toulouse  was  ready  to  crumble  at  the 
approach  of  the  first  resolute  aggressor.  The  civili- 
zation represented  by  that  power  lacked  the  indispen- 
sable essentials  of  every  permanent  government, — 
loyalty  and  religion.  Want  of  centralization,  and  a 
multiplicity  of  rulers,  weakened  the  patriotic  attach- 
ment of  the  people,  and  discouraged  the  growth  of  an 
enlightened  and  healthy  public  sentiment.  National 
pride  could  not  exist  when  there  was  no  royal  per- 
sonage to  whom  all  could  appeal,  no  conmion  country 
to  exalt  and  defend.  In  addition  to  these  serious  im- 
pediments to  durability  and  progress  was  added  an 
absolute  want  of  religious  feeling.    Numerous  causes 


72  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

had  combined  to  produce  this  condition.  Comparisons 
of  many  forms  of  faith  had  exposed  their  defects  and 
inconsistencies,  and  led  to  a  general  rejection  of  them 
all.  The  Crusaders  had  familiarized  all  Europe,  and 
especially  France,  with  the  manners  and  religion  of 
the  Mussulmans.  Hundreds  of  enterprising  mer- 
chants had  assumed  the  cross,  much  less  for  the  piety 
it  was  presumed  to  indicate  and  the  sacred  privileges 
it  conferred,  than  for  the  worldly  advantages  to  be 
procured  by  traffic  with  distant,  and  otherwise  in- 
accessible, regions.  Their  glowing  reports  of  Oriental 
civilization  had  dissipated  the  remaining  prejudices  of 
a  people  whose  intercourse  with  the  Moslem  kingdoms 
beyond  the  Pyrenees  had  long  predisposed  them  in 
favor  of  a  race  held  in  peculiar  abhorrence  by  the  See 
of  Rome.  The  silks  and  gold  of  Syria  and  Egypt 
appealed  far  more  eloquently  to  the  passions  of  the 
multitude  than  the  genuflexions  of  the  priest  or  the 
rosary  and  cowl  of  the  friar.  Even  the  sacred  pro- 
fession was  invaded  by  the  prevailing  spirit  of  tolera- 
tion, itself  dependent  on  material  interests;  the  in- 
ferior clergy  dealt  as  brokers  in  the  money  gf  the 
East,  and  from  the  mints  of  bishops  and  metropolitans 
were  issued  coins  impressed  with  Mohammedan  texts 
and  symbols.  In  addition  to  this*  extraordinary  parti- 
ality for  infidel  customs,  and  the  practical  renunciation 
of  tiie  vow  of  poverty,  which  were  calculated  to  arouse, 
especialy  among  the  vulgar,  a  suspicion  of  heterodoxy, 
the  entire  body  of  the  Proven9al  clergy  had  become 
thoroughly  debased  and  profligate.  Those  of  high 
rank  vied  with  the  nobles  in  prodigal  and  ostentatious 
luxury.  Prelates  constantly  abandoned  the  duties  of 
their  office  for  the  fascinations  of  the  chase  and  the 
licentious  pleasures  of  intrigue.  They  travelled  in 
state  with  numerous  trains  of  ladies  and  attendants, 
the  richness  of  whose  appointments  rivalled  that  of  a 
royal  equipage.    The  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  kept 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubope  78 

in  his  pay  a  band  of  foreign  outlaws  who  levied  black- 
mail on  opulent  citizens,  and  who,  protected  by  their 
ecclesiastical  patron,  defied  the  weak  and  disorganized 
civil  power  of  the  land.  In  every  gay  assembly  where 
the  song  of  the  troubadour  recoimted  the  triumphs 
of  love  and  gallantry,  or  aimed  its  satirical  shafts  at 
the  failings  of  the  priesthood,  the  bishop  was  fore- 
most in  laughter  and  applause.  It  was  a  common 
saying  among  the  people  that  while  the  apostles  were 
poor,  their  successors,  plunged  in  luxury,  "  loved  fine 
horses  and  splendid  garments,  white  women  and  red 
wine."  The  vices  of  the  higher  class,  confirmed  by  the 
possession  of  great  wealth  and  secure  from  the  censure 
of  ecclesiastical  tribunals,  surpassed,  in  turpitude  and 
effrontery,  the  excesses  of  any  other  society  then  exist- 
ing in  Christendom. 

The  episcopal  dignitaries  were  usually  of  noble 
blood  and  connected  with  the  most  ancient  and  distin- 
guished families  of  France.  Not  so,  however,  with  the 
inferior  members  of  the  hierarchy.  The  avarice,  the 
extortion,  the  hypocrisy,  the  drunkenness,  and  the  de- 
bauchery universally  imputed  to  all  included  in  that 
sacred  profession  had  made  it  infamous.  The  prel- 
ates, indeed,  enjoyed  all  that  could  be  purchased  or 
exacted  by  eminent  birth,  boundless  opulence,  and 
irresistible  power.  The  priests,  however,  were  nearer 
the  people,  and  were  taken  from  the  lowest  ranks  of 
society.  Such  was  their  degradation,  that  it  had 
passed  into  a  proverb.  The  populace,  by  way  of  im- 
precation, were  accustomed  to  say,  "  May  I  become  a 
priest  before  I  do  such  a  thing  I"  Livings  were  filled 
exclusively  from  the  ranks  of  the  coarse  and  brutal 
peasantry,  for  no  citizen  of  the  middle  class  would 
permit  his  son  to  be  disgraced  by  the  assumption  of 
the  tonsure.  Even  respectable  vassals  recoiled  from 
the  equivocal  honors  of  the  Church,  and  the  lords,  who 
regarded  the  tithes  as  a  portion  of  their  legal  per- 


74  History  of  the 

quisites,  were  forced  to  select  as  candidates  for  holy 
orders  the  most  ignorant  and  degraded  of  their  de- 
pendents and  slaves.  The  rude  manners  and  vicious 
tastes  engendered  by  a  debased  and  plebeian  origin 
increased  the  hatred  and  contempt  of  the  scoffing 
multitude.  In  some  parts  of  Languedoc  public  feel- 
ing ran  so  high  against  the  clergy,  that  priests,  to  avoid 
personal  violence,  were  forced  to  conceal  from  the 
passers-by  all  outward  evidences  of  their  calling. 

The  Pope,  long  aware  of  the  insults  offered  to  his 
dignity  and  of  the  evils  which  threatened  the  faith 
of  Rome,  had  frequently  condemned  m  xmmeasured 
terms  the  conditions  which  imperilled  the  existence  of 
all  religion  in  the  South  of  France.  Ecclesiastical 
fulminations,  however,  possessed  no  terrors  for  the 
blithe  and  careless  inhabitants  of  Provence  and  Lan- 
guedoc The  Papal  bulls  only  furnished  another 
amusing  theme  for  the  sarcasm  of  the  poet.  Inter- 
dicts, elsewhere  so  potent,  in  that  land,  alone  of  all 
those  subject  to  Christian  authority,  were  treated  with 
derision.  The  pretensions  of  the  legate  of  the  Apos- 
toUc  See  were  ridiculed  in  his  very  presence,  and  even 
the  Holy  Father  himself  was  not  able  to  escape  the 
raillery  and  censure  of  those  whom  experience  had 
made  acquainted  with  the  shocking  venality  and  license 
of  the  Roman  court.  Every  vestige  of  moral  influence 
upon  which  rested  public  consideration  for  the  clergy 
had  disappeared.  The  churches  were  all  but  deserted. 
Latin,  the  language  of  the  altar,  had  been  discarded 
for  the  Langue  d'Oc,  the  idiom  of  the  skeptical  and 
the  dissolute.  In  many  parishes  bells  had  ceased  to 
announce  the  hour  of  worship,  for  no  one  heeded 
them.  The  priest,  intent  on  his  pleasures,  was  only 
too  ready  to  abandon  the  duties  enjoined  by  his  call- 
ing, especially  when  there  were  few  to  Usten  and  still 
fewer  to  contribute.  The  revenues  of  the  Church, 
greatly  diminished,  were  diverted  into  channels  en- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Exjeofe  75 

tirely  foreign  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  had  nomi- 
nally been  collected.  Some  were  appropriated  by  the 
nobles,  whose  vassals  had  been  presented  to  livings. 
Vast  sums  were  squandered  by  licentious  prelates  in 
vices  whose  enormity  appalled  every  sincere  Christian. 
The  greatest  profite  which  enured  to  the  benefit  of 
the  clergy  were  derived  from  the  uncanonical  and  pro- 
hibited practices  of  simony  and  usury.  No  efi^ort  was 
made  to  conceal  the  existence  of  these  abuses,  and  the 
ecclesiastical  residence  was  generally  recognized  as  the 
head-quarters  of  brokerage  in  bills  and  benefices. 

Thus  had  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  by  the  cor- 
ruption and  effrontery  of  its  ministers,  forfeited  the 
respect  of  mankind.  Its  edicts  were  disregarded.  Its 
lessons  were  unheard.  The  pious  turned  with  loathing 
from  the  hypocritical  exhortations  of  religious  teach- 
ers whose  lives  were  stained  with  every  crime,  and 
whose  conduct  presented  examples  of  flagrant  in- 
iquity, which  fortunately  had  few  parallels  outside 
of  their  profession.  The  reverence  once  attaching  to 
the  Vatican  was  sensibly  impaired.  While  its  policy 
encouraged  the  promotion  of  the  humble,  its  authority 
necessarily  suffered  through  the  enrolment  into  the 
priesthood  of  men  without  education,  refinement, 
honor,  decency,  or  independence.  Public  respect 
could  not  be  retained  by  a  class  degraded  by  servile 
associations  and  still  subject  to  the  arbitrary  caprices 
of  a  secular  lord.  As  in  every  community  are  to  be 
found  many  individuals  to  whom  religion  is  a  neces- 
sity, so  in  the  Proven9al  cities  and  villages  devout 
persons  turned  from  the  ancient  and  discredited 
hierarchy  to  other  quarters  for  the  inestimable  con- 
solations of  forgiveness  and  hope.  Such  conditions 
infallibly  generate  heresy,  and  the  eagerness  and 
unanimity  with  which  heterodox  opinions  were 
adopted  in  that  populous  region  demonstrated  at 
once  the  extent  of  the  evil  and  the  necessity  for  the 


76  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

radical  measures  by  which  its  removal  was  acccom- 
plished. 

The  centre  of  intellectual  culture  in  Southern 
France  was  the  UAiversity  of  Montpellier.  It  has 
been  well  said  that  the  history  of  the  faculty  of  that 
famous  institution  is  to  a  great  extent  the  history  of 
medicine  in  Europe.  During  the  early  part  of  the 
twelfth  century,  MontpeUier  was  the  most  important 
emporium  of  France,  The  trade  of  the  entire  country 
converged  to  that  point.  Its  commercial  establish- 
ments were  upon  a  colossal  scale.  Its  population  was 
cosmopolitan.  The  conquests  of  Ferdinand  and 
Jaime,  the  occupation  of  Cordova,  Seville,  Majorca, 
and  Valencia  had  attracted  to  Languedoc,  and  espe- 
cially to  its  most  thriving  city,  tens  of  thousands  of 
Mohammedan  refugees.  The  Jews  had  long  been 
numerous  in  that  region,  and  were  already  conspicu- 
ous for  wealth,  intelligence,  and  power. 

From  that  epoch  dates,  in  reaUty,  the  f oimdation 
of  the  University.  A  school  of  medicine  had  existed 
there  for  nearly  a  century,  but  to  the  influx  of  Moorish 
and  Hebrew  learning  must  be  attributed  the  reputa- 
tion soon  obtained  by  that  institution  throughout  Eu- 
rope. The  majority  of  its  professors  belonged  to 
those  two  nationalities.  They  brought  with  them  the 
experience,  the  methods,  the  remedies,  and  the  instru- 
ments of  the  most  eminent  and  successful  practitioners 
of  the  Peninsula.  Many  of  them  from  time  to  time 
visited  the  colleges  of  Granada  and  Toledo  for  the 
purpose  of  adding  to  their  stock  of  information,  and 
of  profiting  by  the  superior  facilities  those  schools 
afforded.  A  broad  and  catholic  spirit  controlled  the 
organization  and  the  policy  of  the  University.  Sec- 
tarian prejudice  was  unknown.  Teacher  and  scholar 
were  free  to  worship  according  to  their  belief,  or  to 
entertain  and  express  the  most  radical  philosophical 
opinions.    Intellectual  attainments  and  marked  ability 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  77 

were  the  principal  qualifications  for  admission  to  the 
Faculty. 

The  Lords  of  Montpellier,  and  subsequently  the 
Kings  of  France,  were  the  patrons  of  the  school. 
They  conferred  upon  it  at  different  times  great  and 
extraordinary  privileges.  The  rights  it  had  enjoyed 
under  the  Count  were  confirmed  by  the  sovereign. 
Philip  of  Valois,  in  1881,  by  a  special  edict  placed 
its  doctors  under  the  royal  protection.  Charles  VI., 
in  1850,  granted  its  beadles  permission  to  carry  silver 
maces  as  symbols  of  its  dignity.  The  Duke  of  Ara- 
gon,  in  1864,  exempted  it  from  taxation.  The  patents 
of  Charles  VIII.,  in  1484,  transferred  all  causes  in 
which  the  professors  and  students  were  interested  to 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Governor  of  Montpellier.  The 
execution  of  legal  process  could  only  be  made  in  the 
presence  of  the  Chancellor.  To  the  officers  of  the 
Faculty  were  committed  the  supervision  and  inspec- 
tion of  the  apothecary  shops  of  the  city,  in  order  to 
insure  the  purity  of  the  medicines  dispensed. 

At  Montpellier  were  performed  the  first  public  ana- 
tomical demonstrations  of  Christian  Europe.  The 
surgical  investigations  of  the  School  of  Salerno  had 
been  principally  confined  to  the  lower  animals.  Moor- 
ish and  Hebrew  operators  carried  into  France  the 
advanced  ideas  of  Mohammedan  Spain,  which,  in 
defiance  of  ancient  prejudice  and  mediaeval  supersti- 
tion, sought  for  the  knowledge  of  the  location  and 
functions  of  the  human  organs  in  the  intelligent  and 
systematic  dissection  of  the  human  body.  In  the 
thirteenth  century,  the  corpse  of  a  criminal  was  every 
year  given  to  the  Faculty  of  Montpellier  for  this 
purpose.  Two  hundred  years  elapsed  before  sinular 
demonstrations  were  authorized  by  the  University  of 
Paris. 

The  Medical  Academy  of  Montpellier  inherited  the 
energetic  and  progressive  spirit  of  its  prototype,  the 


78  HiSTORT  OP  THE 

University  of  Cordova,  It  absorbed  all  the  available 
learning  of  antiquity.  It  adopted  the  maxims  and  the 
methods  of  the  great  Arab  surgeons  and  physicians  of 
the  Peninsula.  Among  its  most  celebrated  professors 
were  graduates  of  the  School  of  Salerno.  It  utilized 
the  talents  and  experience  of  famous  practitioners  of 
every  country  and  of  every  creed.  There  the  works 
of  Hippocrates  and  Galen  were  translated  from  tiie 
Arabic,  in  which  idiom  they  had  been  preserved,  into 
the  Latin,  by  which  they  were  to  be  transmitted  to 
posterity.  There  the  learned  disquisitions  of  Aver- 
roes,  Avicenna,  Rhazes,  and  Abulcasis  were  enriched 
with  volimmious  and  invaluable  commentaries. 

A  long  and  thorough  course  of  study  was  required 
to  obtain  the  title  of  Doctor.  The  office  of  Chancellor 
was  one  of  great  dignity,  and  carried  with  it  many 
privileges.  It  may  well  be  imagined  that  ecclesiastical 
imposture  could  not  flourish  in  the  shadow  of  such  an 
institution.  Such  was  its  influence,  even  with  a  class 
naturally  hostile,  that  as  early  as  the  last  half  of  the 
twelfth  century  the  First  and  Second  Councils  of 
Montpellier  prohibited  all  members  of  the  clergy  from 
teaching  medicine,  under  severe  penalties.  The  scien- 
tific character  of  the  studies  piursued  in  that  city,  and 
the  success  of  those  who  profited  by  them,  discredited 
the  practice  of  shrine-cure  and  the  imposition  of  relics. 
The  theological  odium  attaching  to  the  University  was 
not  less  than  that  which  had  stigmatized  kindred  seats 
of  learning  among  the  Arabian  infidels.  Many  works 
of  its  professors  were  publicly  burned  by  the  Inquisi- 
tion. 

And  yet  no  class  of  men  was  more  highly  esteemed 
by  the  orthodox  sovereigns  of  Christendom  than  the 
graduates  of  the  University  of  Montpellier.  They 
were  the  friends  and  confidants  of  popes  and  kings. 
Their  heretical  principles  were  forgotten  at  the  bed- 
side of  the  sick  and  the  afflicted.    Arnold  de  Villanova 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  79 

was  the  physician  of  Clement  V.,  of  Peter  III.,  King 
of  Aragon,  of  Frederick  II.,  Emperor  of  Germany. 
Guy  de  Chauliac  was  the  regular  medical  adviser  of 
Clement  VI.,  of  Innocent  VI.,  of  Urban  V.  While 
its  greatest  reputation  is  derived  from  its  influence  on 
medicine,  the  labors  of  the  School  of  Montpellier 
were  not  confined  to  that  science.  They  gave  rise  to 
many  valuable  contributions  to  various  branches  of 
literature.  The  astronomical  researches  of  the  Span- 
ish Jew,  Profatius,  in  1800, — ^his  tables  of  longitude; 
his  calculations,  which  established  the  declination  of 
the  sun  and  the  inclination  of  the  earth's  axis,  by 
means  of  which  terrestrial  motion  was  conclusively 
demonstrated,  have  not  lost  their  authority  in  our 
time. 

The  treatises  of  Gordonius  on  Diseases  of  the  Kid- 
neys, of  Gerard  de  Solo  on  Hygiene,  of  Raymond 
de  Vinario  on  the  Plague,  indicate  to  the  medical 
scholar  the  extraordinary  accomplishments  of  the 
members  of  the  Faculty  of  Montpellier.  The  great 
work  of  Guy  de  Chauliac  on  General  Surgery  was  the 
main  reliance  of  European  operators  for  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years. 

The  mad  extravagance  of  the  Provencjal  nobility, 
their  lavish  expenditures,  the  pomp  of  their  retinues, 
their  efforts  to  surpass  in  prodigality  and  luxury  the 
splendid  festivals  of  imperial  Rome,  aroused  the 
wonder  of  Europe.  Their  chargers  were  shod  with 
silver.  Their  dogs  wore  collars  set  with  precious 
jewels.  It  was  an  ordinary  occurrence  for  a  wealthy 
lord  to  scatter  great  sums  to  be  scrambled  for  by  the 
populace.  One  sowed  like  seed  thirty  thousand  gold 
crowns  in  the  neighborhood  of  his  castle.  Another 
enriched  his  poble  guests  by  the  bestowal  of  gifts  of 
incalculable  value.  A  third  sacrificed  upon  a  funeral 
pyre,  in  the  presence  of  an  immense  assemblage,  thirty 
of  his  finest  horses.    There  was  apparently  no  limit  to 


80  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

the  intoxication  produced  by  the  pride,  the  opulence, 
and  the  voluptuousness  of  Proven9al  society.  In  that 
society  differences  in  rank  were  not  so  sharply  defined 
as  in  those  of  other  countries.  The  serf,  indeed,  re- 
tained his  degradation;  but  the  ordinarily  intermedi- 
ate class  of  burghers  were  practically  the  equals  of  the 
feudal  aristocracy.  Many  of  them  boasted  a  purer 
and  a  more  distinguished  lineage.  They  used  coats 
of  arms.  They  had  their  mansions,  their  embattled 
castles,  their  bodies  of  organized  retainers.  They 
excelled  in  martial  exercises,  and  it  was  no  unusual 
occurrence  for  knights  who  had  crossed  swords  witih 
the  infidels  of  Palestine  to  be  worsted  by  them  in  the 
tournament.  The  title  to  noble  rank  was  thus  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  connected  with  municipal  residence. 
In  the  cities  all  was  splendor,  gayety,  courtesy.  Out- 
side of  them,  the  inhabitants  were  for  the  most  part 
condemned  to  villeinage.  In  the  Courts  of  Love, 
whose  absurdity  has  caused  them  to  be  regarded  as 
mythical  by  many  subsequent  writers,  judicial  deci- 
sions were  rendered  on  every  point  of  amorous  casu- 
istry. The  mock  solemnity  with  which  such  matters 
were  propounded  and  determined  was  only  exceeded 
by  the  dissolute  tendency  of  the  customs  that  governed 
the  proceedings  of  these  extraordinary  tribunals.  No 
greater  proof  of  the  prevalent  laxity  of  morals  could 
be  desired  than  that  furnished  by  their  canons.  They 
encouraged  the  violation  of  the  marriage  vow.  They 
defined  with  minute  and  curious  particularity  the  rules 
of  intrigue.  The  nature  of  the  questions  debated  by 
high-bom  ladies  in  the  presence  of  a  numerous  audi- 
tory was  such  as  cannot  be  even  designated,  still  less 
described,  in  a  modem  book.  The  brazen  coarseness 
which  characterized  these  ridiculous .  controversies 
afforded  a  remarkable  contrast  to  the  refinement  of 
manners  otherwise  displayed  by  those  who  partici- 
pated in  them.    The  popularity  of  this  imique  system 


Moorish  Emfike  in  Europe  81 

of  jurisprudence  was  so  great,  that,  at  the  time  of  the 
Albigensian  crusade,  it  was  on  the  point  of  being  gen- 
erally established  in  every  part  of  France.  No  insti- 
tution, even  in  those  times  of  heresy  and  unbelief,  was 
so  fatal  to  religion.  It  undermined  the  vital  princi- 
ples by  which  society  is  held  together.  It  defied  the 
injunctions  and  ridiculed  the  dogmas  of  the  Church. 
The  Virgin,  as  the  object  of  adoration,  was  sup- 
planted by  the  mistress  of  the  cavalier,  often  a  woman 
of  dissolute  character  and  the  recipient  of  the  adula- 
tion of  a  score  of  favored  lovers. 

A  charming  picture  of  mediseval  society  is  pre- 
sented by  the  life  of  the  educated  classes  of  Lan- 
guedoc  and  Provence.  Everywhere  was  dispensed 
the  most  elegant  and  lavish  hospitality.  The  table  was 
spread  before  the  open  door  of  the  castle.  Marked 
attention  was  shown  to  the  guest,  whether  merchant, 
knight,  pilgrim,  minstrel,  or  troubadour.  He  was 
welcomed  with  unaffected  cordiality.  He  was  ten- 
dered the  use  of  the  hot-air  bath.  A  wreath  of  flowers 
was  placed  upon  his  brow.  The  ladies  themselves 
ministered  to  his  necessities.  In  accordance  with  a 
custom  borrowed  from  the  Arabs,  the  choicest  mor- 
sels were  placed  in  his  mouth  by  dainty  white  and 
jewelled  fingers  perfumed  with  lavender  and  rose. 
The  diversions  of  the  day  were  feats  of  strength  and 
displays  of  horsemanship,  the  game  of  chess,  the  chase 
with  the  falcon,  the  contest  for  the  prize  of  knightly 
dexterity  in  the  lists  of  the  tournament.  In  winter, 
the  company  gathered  about  the  huge  fireplace  of  the 
banqueting  hall;  in  sunmier,  under  the  rustling  fo- 
liage of  the  park.  The  evening  was  spent  with  song 
and  dance,  with  the  recital  of  the  story-teller,  with  the 
improvisations  of  the  poet.  The  feast  was  enlivened 
by  wit,  by  jest,  by  sparkling  repartee.  The  returned 
crusader  related  his  adventures  in  the  Holy  Land, 
— ^the  bloody  encounters  of  the  siege  of  Acre;   the 

Vol.  III.— « 


82  HlSTOEY  OF  THE 

quarrels  of  the  Christian  chieftains;  the  events  in 
which  were  displayed  the  dignity,  the  valor,  the  noble 
generosity  of  Saladin.  The  trader,  just  from  the 
Moorish  cities  of  Spain, — ^then,  indeed,  sadly  fallen 
from  their  first  estate,  but  still  exhibiting  in  their 
fading  splendor  no  unworthy  image  of  their  former 
grandeur  and  power, — described  in  glowing  language 
the  beauties  of  Cordova,  Valencia,  and  Seville.  Be- 
tween cavalier  and  mistress  conmiunication  was  con- 
stantly maintained  unobserved,  through  the  silent  and 
pantomimic  medium  of  the  language  of  flowers. 

In  this  brilliant  company  the  troubadour  was  pre- 
eminently conspicuous.  iUthough  often  the  butt  of 
the  equivocal  speeches  and  practical  jokes  of  his  com- 
panions of  both  sexes, — ^attentions  which  he  did  not 
fail  to  repay  with  interest  in  the  cutting  satire  of 
his  verse, — ^his  opinions,  generally  authoritative,  were 
always  heard  with  respect.  He  determined  points  of 
precedence  and  etiquette.  He  gave  wholesome  advice 
to  young  ladies  on  the  care  of  their  persons,  on  their 
behavior  at  table,  on  their  treatment  of  lovers.  His 
principal  duties  were,  however,  the  glorification  of  the 
family  of  his  patron  and  the  celebration  of  the  charms 
of  his  mistress.  All  courted  his  favor.  Few  were  rash 
enough  to  provoke  his  enmity.  In  the  society  of 
Languedoc,  whether  the  dependent  of  a  noble  house 
or  a  careless  wanderer  from  court  to  court,  he  was 
always  the  central  figure. 

Among  the  inmates  of  the  baronial  palace,  if  an 
intrigue  existed,  it  was  concealed  by  the  mask  of  de- 
cency. The  poet,  in  the  burning  verses  which  enumer- 
ated the  charms  of  his  lady-love,  never  mentioned  her 
name,  or  betrayed  the  slightest  indication  of  her  iden- 
tity. His  attachment  he  regarded  in  the  same  light  as 
the  tribute  paid  by  a  Pagan  worshipper  to  his  tutelary 
goddess.  The  laws  of  his  code  demanded  impene- 
trably reserve,    The  object  of  his  devotion  was,  to  all 


MooKiSH  Empibe  in  Eueofe  88 

appearances,  an  imaginary  personage,  an  ideal  of 
feminine  perfection. 

The  highest  development  of  splendor,  taste,  intelli- 
gence, and  luxury  was  to  be  found  in  the  feudal  castle. 
In  the  cities,  it  is  true,  great  pomp  and  extravagance, 
the  results  of  the  accumulation  of  incredible  wealth, 
were  constantly  displayed.  The  mansions  of  many 
opulent  merchants  far  surpassed  in  the  magnificence 
of  their  interiors  the  palaces  of  the  King  of  France. 
On  occasions  of  festivity  priceless  hangings  of  bro- 
cade and  velvet,  of  silken  tapestry  and  cloth  of  gold, 
were  suspended  over  the  streets.  The  households  of 
these  powerful  citizens  were  on  a  scale  conmiensiirate 
with  the  dignity  of  their  masters.  Hundreds  of 
retainers  obeyed  their  bidding.  Their  apartments 
were  fuD  of  singers,  dancers,  buffoons,  and  eunuchs. 
There  was  no  delicacy  not  to  be  found  upon  their 
tables;  no  means  of  sensual  enjoyment  whidi  did  not 
contribute  to  the  stimulation  of  their  blunted  appe- 
tites; no  vice  with  which  they  were  not  familiar. 

Thus  in  the  courts  of  the  numerous  principalities 
of  Southern  France,  amidst  the  delights  of  a  society 
gay,  skeptical,  licentious,  the  troubadoiu*  was  the 
arbiter  of  taste,  the  oracle  of  the  populace,  the  idol 
of  women.  Public  opinion  was  far  from  discour- 
aging the  practice  of  gallantry  in  an  age  which  scoffed 
alike  at  the  maxims  of  social  morality  and  the  cere- 
monies of  religion.  The  mistress  of  the  vagrant  bard 
was  always  the  wife  of  a  noble,  not  infrequently  a 
princess  of  the  highest  dignity.  To  her  was  addressed 
his  passionate  homage,  often  in  strains  whose  expres- 
sions are  too  bold  and  ardent  for  translation  into  a 
modem  language.  The  adoration  they  convey,  unsur- 
passed in  fervency  by  any  vows  ever  offered  at  the 
shrine  of  a  celestial  divinity,  affords  a  key  to  both  the 
influence  of  the  poet  and  the  relaxation  of  manners. 
The  life  of  the  latter  was  passed  in  an  intoxicating 


84  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

atmosphere  of  music,  flattery,  and  amorous  intrigue. 
His  power  over  society  was  not  less  important  than 
that  formerly  exercised  by  the  repudiated  clergy,  and 
was,  morally  speaking,  f  iilly  as  pernicious.  The  adu- 
lation he  lavished  upon  the  object  of  his  affections, 
represented  as  the  personification  of  every  physical 
grace  and  every  mental  accomplishment,  could  not  fail 
to  fire  the  romantic  imagination  of  the  goddess  in 
whose  veins  coursed  the  hot  blood  of  the  South,  and 
whose  vanity  caused  her  to  recognize  in  this  extrava- 
gant flattery  and  devotion  the  highest  tribute  to  her 
charms.  Aroimd  the  bard,  in  the  brilliant  circles  of 
Aries  or  Carcassonne,  was  grouped  a  mirthfvd  and 
appreciative  auditory, — ^ladies  in  brocades  and  jewels, 
Imights  in  burnished  armor,  pages  in  silk  and  gold. 
In  that  animated  assemblage  the  restraints  of  rank, 
never  rendered  irksome  by  the  exactions  of  pompous 
ceremonial,  were  for  the  moment  entirely  suspended. 
The  conversation  sparkled  with  epigram,  equivocal 
allusions,  and  good-humored  satire.  Its  character, 
formed  by  the  dissolute  customs  of  the  age,  often 
transgressed  the  rules  of  propriety  which  govern 
modem  social  intercourse.  Inspired  by  such  sur- 
roundings, the  troubadour  arose  and  began  the  recital 
of  an  impromptu  amatory  ode.  Yoimg,  slender,  and 
handsome,  his  physical  appearance  alone  might  well 
elicit  female  admiration.  His  long,  dark  locks  fell 
in  ringlets  upon  his  shoulders.  A  golden  chain  hung 
about  his  neck.  His  fingers  glittered  with  gems. 
From  his  belt  an  enamelled  poniard  was  suspended. 
His  picturesque  costume  of  brilliant  colors,  his  silken 
doublet,  his  velvet  cloak,  set  off  to  the  best  advantage 
the  graces  of  his  person,  and  revealed  the  popularity 
which  he  enjoyed  with  his  patrons.  All  eyes  were 
turned  upon  him,  for  his  talents  were  of  the  highest 
order,  and  the  object  of  his  admiration  was  present, 
perchance  in  the  person  of  the  chatelaine  herself.    As 


MooKiSH  Empibe  in  Exjeope  85 

he  chanted  his  verses  in  accents,  now  ardent,  now 
pathetic,  now  humorous,  the  enraptured  audience, 
swayed  by  conflicting  emotions,  broke  forth  alter- 
nately into  tears  and  laughter.  His  ambiguous  ex- 
pressions, his  licentious  images, — ^whose  boldness  the 
severity  of  modem  criticism  would  reject  as  offensive 
to  decency, — ^were  received  with  every  manifestation 
of  approval  by  his  delighted  hearers.  The  nature  of 
the  entertainment  was  often  varied  by  the  perform- 
ances of  the  jongleur.  That  personage,  who,  as  a 
retainer  of  the  troubadour,  occupied  a  position  analo- 
gous to  that  of  esquire  to  knight,  united  in  his  calling 
the  office  of  minstrel,  juggler,  story-teller,  and  buf- 
foon. Sometimes  he  accompanied  the  song  of  the 
poet  upon  the  harp  or  the  guitar;  sometimes,  with 
expressive  gesticulation,  he  recounted  the  legends,  the 
martial  exploits,  and  the  popular  romances  whose  rela- 
tion was  a  favorite  diversion  of  mediaeval  society.  His 
rank  was  ordinarily  far  beneath  that  of  his  compan- 
ion; yet  it  was  not  unusual  for  the  two  professions 
to  be  combined;  and  there  were  instances  when  theii* 
positions  were  reversed  through  the  vicissitudes  of 
success  or  misfortune. 

The  extraordinary  privileges  enjoyed  by  these  va- 
grant sonneteers  were  by  no  means  entirely  attribu- 
table to  the  amusement  which  their  talents  afforded. 
Their  compositions  were  the  sole  medium  by  which 
public  opinion  could  be  aroused  and  the  abuse  of 
power  and  the  excesses  of  social  depravity  restrained. 
The  influence  of  the  pulpit,  long  omnipotent  in  the 
regulation  of  morals,  had  declined;  in  some  localities 
it  had  wholly  disappeared.  Centuries  were  destined 
to  elapse  before  the  press,  the  most  formidable  weapon 
of  political  censure,  could  become  available.  The 
satire  of  the  poet,  whose  verses,  carried  from  place 
to  place,  in  a  fortnight  became  familiar  to  a  hundred 
communities,  was  recognized  as  the  instrument  of 


86  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

moral  correction,  the  dread  of  the  tyrant,  the  scourge 
of  the  shamelessly  dissolute.  Its  potent  effects  were 
feared  by  wrong-doers  of  every  class,  and  by  none  so 
much  as  by  those  of  exalted  position. 

The  fierceness  and  rancor  displayed  by  the  trouba- 
dours in  their  attacks  upon  obnoxious  personages,  in 
an  age  of  irresponsible  authority,  can  only  be  ex- 
plained upon  the  hypothesis  that  they  were  encouraged 
and  protected  by  the  force  of  overwhelming  public 
sentiment.  Their  poems  were  composed  in  the  Lan- 
gue  d'Oc,  the  first  perfected  and  the  most  important 
of  the  Romance  languages, — ^an  idiom  of  great  com- 
pass and  power,  and  beyond  the  Loire  used  by  the 
educated  and  polished  members  of  society  alone.  The 
finest  of  these  productions  frequently  owed  their 
origin  to  authors  destitute  of  literary  culture;  many 
troubadours  could  not  even  read.  They  evinced  no 
admiration  of  the  beauties  of  nature.  The  stanzas 
were  isolated,  often  absolutely  without  continuity.  A 
comimon  similarity  of  type  and  resemblance  of  ideas 
pervaded  all.  It  is  a  singular  circumstance,  that  in 
form  and  metrical  arrangement  the  last  poem  of  a 
troubadour  was  not,  in  any  important  particular,  su- 
perior to  the  oldest,  at  present,  known;  there  was  no 
improvement  in  two  hundred  years.  In  delicacy  of 
sentiment,  in  vigor  of  expression,  in  sweetness  of 
melody,  these  compositions  are  not  excelled  by  the 
lyrics  of  any  nation.  Their  analogy  to  those  of  the 
Spanish  Mohammedans  is  striking  and  self-evident. 
There  is  the  same  play  of  words,  the  same  predomi- 
nating class  of  subjects,  the  same  far-fetched  and 
extravagant  similies,  the  same  incessant  obtrusion  of 
the  author's  personality.  The  Langue  d'Oc  contains 
a  greater  nimiber  of  rhyming  terminations  than  any 
other  language  except  Arabic;  a  coincidence  to  be 
attributed  to  imitation  or  a  common  poetic  taste,  and 
certainly  not  the  result  of  accident.    In  the  produc- 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  87 

tions  of  both  idioms  the  prevailing  rhyme  is  by  dis- 
tichs,  and  occurs  throughout  the  entire  poem,  the  sec- 
ond verse  of  every  distich  always  ending  with  the 
same  sound;  and  the  meaning  is  often  obscured  or 
sacrificed  to  preserve  continuous  harmony  of  versifi- 
cation. 

The  taste  for  letters  was  introduced  into  France 
partly  as  a  consequence  of  the  Moslem  occupation, 
but  principally  by  the  Jews,  who  remained  after  their 
allies  had  been  driven  back  over  the  Pyrenees.  The 
similarity  of  taste  and  expression  existing  between  the 
poets  of  these  two  branches  of  the  Semitic  race  is 
apparent  to  every  one  who  has  compared  the  Bible 
and  the  Koran.  Many  of  the  Hebrew  colonists  of 
Narbonne  and  Marseilles  had  been  educated  at  Cor- 
dova, and  all  spoke  the  Arabic  language  with  fluency. 
Not  a  few  were  scholars  of  marked  ability,  gifted  with 
poetic  talents,  the  possessors  of  large  libraries.  These 
superior  advantages  had  great  weight  with  a  semi- 
barbarous  people  steeped  in  ignorance,  with  no  mental 
resources  except  the  interchange  of  gossip,  and  the 
exhortations  of  a  priest,  who  often  could  not  imder- 
stand  his  breviary.  The  ferocious  and  intolerant  spirit 
with  which  the  Jew  was  generally  regarded,  counter- 
acted, in  a  measure,  the  effect  of  his  influence,  but  the 
power  of  intellect  and  culture  finally  prevailed.  The 
Hebrews  familiarized  the  population  of  Languedoc 
and  Provence  with  the  art,  the  science,  and  the  litera- 
ture of  the  Arabs.  Through  their  agency  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  Arabic  language  and  literature  became 
in  Southern  France  and  in  Sicily  indispensable  to  the 
education  of  a  scholar.  Another  factor  of  great  im- 
portance in  the  intellectual  development  of  Southern 
Europe  was  the  number  of  Moslem  refugees  who 
sought  safety  in  foreign  lands  from  the  influx  of 
African  barbarism  and  from  the  perils  incident  to  con- 
stant revolution.    A  large  proportion  of  these  were 


88  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

philosophers,  whose  high  attainments  had  made  them 
dangerously  conspicuous,  and  whose  heretical  doc- 
trines were  obnoxious  to  the  stem  fanaticism  of  the 
Almoravides.  Such  an  inmiigration  could  not  fail  to 
produce  a  profound  impression  upon  the  mental  char- 
acteristics and  literary  habits  of  any  people. 

The  intercourse  of  all  classes  of  the  population  in 
Southern  France  was  distinguished  by  every  manifes- 
tation of  courtesy.  The  degrees  of  precedence,  the 
style  of  dress,  the  order  of  amusements,  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  banquet,  were  governed  by  established 
rules  of  etiquette. 

Nor  was  this  life  by  any  means  devoted  to  frivolous 
pursuits.  The  great  hall  of  the  castle  was  often  the 
scene  of  debate  between  famous  scholars  and  eccle- 
siastics. There,  too,  were  performed  the  burlesque 
miracle-plays  of  the  age.  An  expensive  library  was 
the  pride  of  the  count.  The  philosopher  was  fre- 
quently, the  astrologer  ahnost  invariably,  a  member 
of  his  household.  In  the  secret  vaults  of  the  labora- 
tory, surrounded  by  crucibles  and  alembics,  the  adept 
sought  for  the  secret  of  potable  gold;  from  the  sum- 
mit of  the  keep  the  astronomer  held  nightly  com- 
munion with  the  stars. 

An  inclination  to  dialectical  controversy,  inherited 
from  their  Greek  ancestry;  the  subtle  arguments  of 
Arab  metaphysicians  and  natural  philosophers;  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  the  Orient,  which  familiarized 
them  with  the  religious  theories  and  principles  of  vari- 
ous heretical  beliefs;  and  the  corrupt  and  debauched 
lives  of  the  clergy,  which  excited  the  imiversal  abhor- 
rence of  all,  predisposed  the  piously  inclined  to  the 
acceptance  of  new  forms  of  faith.  Among  the  heter- 
odox sects  which  arose  in  the  early  ages  of  Chris- 
tianity, that  of  the  Faulicians  was  the  most  numerous, 
the  most  popular,  and  the  most  enduring.  Its  tenets 
were  partly  borrowed  from  those  of  the  Gnostics,  but 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  89 

largely  derived  from  the  ancient  Persian  doctrine  of 
the  two  antagonistic  Principles  of  Good  and  Evil, 
ever  contending  for  the  mastery  of  the  miiverse  and 
the  empire  of  mankind.  The  peculiar  ideas  of  this 
Manichean  sect  had,  from  the  first,  awakened  the  ap- 
prehensions and  called  forth  the  anathemas  of  the 
Church.  The  mysticism  which  characterized  them,  the 
ascetic  life  which  they  inculcated,  appealed  powerfully 
to  the  superstitions  and  devout  impulses  which  most 
strongly  influence  the  human  mind.  From  Armenia 
the  belief  of  the  Paulicians  rapidly  invaded  every 
province  of  the  Byzantine  Empire,  and  then,  follow- 
ing the  lines  of  trade,  made  innumerable  proselytes  in 
Grermany,  Italy,  Spain,  and  France.  It  gave  rise  to 
the  Waldenses  and  the  Albigenses,  names  of  sad  and 
ominous  import  in  the  religious  annals  of  Europe. 
In  no  country  were  these  false  doctrines  embraced 
with  such  enthusiasm  as  in  Provence  and  Languedoc. 
Their  adoption  was  not  confined  to  the  ignorant  and 
the  obscure,  for  many  personages  of  the  most  exalted 
rank  openly  avowed  tiieir  adherence  to  this  danger- 
ous heresy.  Simplicity  of  creed  and  purity  of  man- 
ners distinguished  the  new  sectaries  from  the  subjects 
of  the  ancient  hierarchy.  They  denied  the  real  pres- 
ence in  the  Eucharist;  the  value  of  baptism  as  a  cere- 
mony; the  efficacy  of  absolution  granted  by  a  priest 
whose  calling  was  not  imf  requently  dishonored  by  acts 
of  the  most  glaring  profligacy.  Their  ministers  dis- 
carded the  splendid  vestments  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
priesthood  for  simple  robes  of  black.  They  rejected 
the  Old  Testament,  as  inspired  by  the  Spirit  of  Evil, 
because  of  the  sanguinary  deeds  authorized  by  a  supe- 
rior power,  which,  by  the  extermination  of  populous 
communities,  indicated  irreconcilable  enmity  to  the 
human  race.  Bells  and  images  of  every  kind  alike 
shared  their  animadversion.  They  advocated  benevo- 
lence, abstinence,  chastity,  celibacy.    In  self-abnega- 


90  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

tion  many  of  them  exceeded  the  discipline  of  the  most 
exacting  of  the  monastic  orders.  They  denoimced  as 
one  of  the  most  grievous  offences  against  morality  the 
practice  of  every  form  of  lying  and  deceit.  In  their 
creed  the  sacerdotal  oflSce  and  the  ceremonial  of  the 
Chm'ch  were  invested  with  no  sanctity,  and  could 
confer  no  benefits,  if  not  associated  with  honesty  of 
purpose  and  purity  of  life.  Their  very  existence  was 
a  protest  against  Papal  infallibility  and  an  assertion 
of  the  right  of  individual  judgment.  Their  liberal 
opinions,  their  charity,  the  persuasive  eloquence  with 
which  they  promulgated  their  doctrines,  obtained  for 
them  the  respect  of  the  nobiUty  and  the  ardent  devo- 
tion of  the  multitude.  The  name  of  the  obnoxious 
sect  was  to  every  consistent  member  of  the  Catholic 
conmiimion  a  term  of  peculiar  infamy  and  reproach. 

Throughout  the  region  tainted  with  this  heresy, 
which  derived  its  name  from  the  diocese  of  Albi,  where 
its  professors  were  most  numerous,  the  authority  of 
the  Vatican  was  undermined  or  entirely  destroyed. 
The  habits  of  the  clergy  had  prejudiced  all  classes 
against  them.  The  churches  were  empty.  Payment 
of  tithes  had  ceased.  Vassals  subject  to  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  refused  obedience  and  withheld  their  trib- 
ute. In  certain  districts  it  was  unsafe  for  a  priest  to 
appear  upon  the  highway.  The  public  exhortations 
of  friars,  whose  extraordinary  influence  was  now  for 
the  first  time  disclosed,  were  interrupted  by  shouts  of 
derision  and  flying  missiles.  At  Toulouse,  the  centre 
of  the  Albigensian  doctrines,  a  renegade  prelate, 
usurping  the  functions  of  the  Pope,  convoked  at  in- 
tervals councils  of  heretic  bishops.  The  recalcitrant 
sectaries  possessed  houses  of  worship,  ecclesiastical 
residences,  cemeteries.  The  piety  or  fears  of  the 
devout  bestowed  upon  their  clergy  valuable  estates 
and  great  stmis  in  legacies.  That  portion  of  the 
community  which  did  not  accept  the  new  belief — 


Moorish  Emfibe  in  Eubofe  91 

which  probably  equalled  the  rest  in  numbers,  and 
certainly  surpassed  it  in  wealth  and  social  importance, 
infected  with  the  theories  of  Arabic  philosophy — ^was 
thoroughly  infidel.  Against  such  rebels  the  thunders 
of  the  Vatican  availed  nothing.  Apostolic  admoni- 
tions were  treated  with  ridicule.  Interdicts  had  lost 
their  power.  Even  the  Papal  legate  was  treated  with 
scant  courtesy.  The  missionary  efforts  of  Dominic, 
whose  fiery  zeal  now  began  to  raise  him  to  eminence, 
met  with  signal  and  ignominious  failure.  The  Church 
— ^menaced  at  the  same  time  by  this  serious  defection, 
by  rebellion  in  her  own  temporal  dependencies,  and 
by  the  aspiring  genius  of  the  youthful  emperor,  Fred- 
erick II. — ^was  in  great  distress.  At  no  time  in  her 
history  had  she  been  confronted  with  such  powerfvd 
enemies  or  been  exposed  to  more  deadly  perils.  And 
yet  this  beautiful  land,  now  under  the  ban  of  the 
Papal  See,  had  scarcely  a  century  before  been  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  bulwarks  of  the  Christian  faith. 
It  was  at  Clermont  that  the  first  Crusade  was  pro- 
claimed by  the  Languedocian  Bishop  of  Puy,  as  the 
representative  of  the  Pope.  A  hundred  thousand  per- 
sons from  Southern  France  followed  Peter  the  Her- 
mit to  Palestine.  The  famous  Order  of  Hospitallers 
was  a  Provencal  institution.  A  large  proportion  of 
its  Grand  Masters  were  natives  of  Languedoc.  The 
treasure  contributed  by  its  people  to  the  prosecution 
of  these  chimerical  expeditions  of  Rome  was  far  from 
inconsiderable.  Such  a  radical  change  had  increased 
intelligence  and  the  untrammelled  exercise  of  reason 
wrought  in  the  minds  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  most 
civilized  coimtry  of  Christian  Europe. 

The  malignant  genius  of  Innocent  III.  was,  how- 
ever, equal  to  the  emergency.  In  spite  of  the  fact 
that  ecclesiastical  corruption  was  principally  respon- 
sible for  the  widespread  revolt  against  Papal  au- 
thority, the  Coimt  of  Toulouse  and  his  feudatories 


92  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

were,  in  exquisite  irony,  appointed  the  ministers  of 
apostolic  vengeance.  The  mandate  was  issued  by  the 
Vatican  that  the  Proven9al  nobility  should  become  tiie 
persecutors  of  their  vassals  and  lay  waste  their  own 
possessions  with  fire  and  sword.  No  family  ties,  no 
considerations  of  friendship  or  intimacy,  no  heredi- 
tary connections,  were  exempted  from  the  operation 
of  this  atrocious  decree.  When  it  had  failed,  as  it 
was  certain  to  do,  as  a  last  decisive  expedient,  a  bull 
was  promulgated  announcing  a  crusade  against  the 
infidels  of  France.  Their  lands  and  their  lives  were 
declared  forfeited  for  the  crime  of  heresy;  all  good 
Catholics  were  called  to  arms;  and  the  property  of 
the  rebellious  sectaries  was  promised  as  a  reward  to 
the  faithful  champions  of  the  Holy  See.  Every  re- 
source of  Papal  ingenuity  and  power  was  invoked. 
From  twelve  hundred  monasteries,  bands  of  fanatics 
issued  to  preach  the  crusade  in  all  the  states  of  Chris- 
tendom. Plenary  indulgence  was  granted  to  the 
warrior  who  donned  his  armor  in  the  cause  of  the 
Church.  Excommimication  and  the  withdrawal  of 
ecclesiastical  protection  were  denounced  against  any 
guilty  of  hesitation  or  lukewarmness.  In  addition  to 
the  general  absolution  authorized  by  the  Pope,  the 
Crusaders  were  during  the  continuance  of  this  Holy 
War  released  from  the  payment  of  all  pecuniary  obli- 
gations contracted  prior  to  their  enlistment,  a  conces- 
sion which  was  practically  equivalent  to  the  repudia- 
tion of  their  debts.  The  answer  to  the  summons  of 
the  Vatican  was  ready  and  unanimous.  Every  ab- 
sorbing passion  and  every  ignoble  impulse — ^love.of 
fame,  religious  zeal,  national  prejudice,  desire  of 
novelty,  insatiable  cupidity,  private  malice — attracted 
the  roving,  the  licentious,  and  the  unprincipled  to  the 
standard  of  the  Cross.  At  that  time  Europe  swarmed 
with  mihtary  adventurers,  some  of  whom  had  served 
in  Palestine,  in  the  trains  of  eminent  personages; 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  98 

others,  the  refuse  of  dishanded  armies,  were  outlaws 
and  crimmals  who  subsisted  by  plunder  and  extortion. 
To  men  like  these,  the  aimoimcement  of  such  an  enter- 
prise appeared  a  singular  stroke  of  good  fortune. 
Provence  and  Languedoc  embraced  the  richest  terri- 
tory, of  its  dimensions,  west  of  Constantinople.  Its 
luxury  and  its  opulence,  its  elegant  civilization,  the 
magnificence  of  its  cities,  the  vast  treasures  of  its  ware- 
houses, the  beauty  of  its  women,  were  well  known  to 
its  envious  and  ambitious  neighbors.  It  was  also 
known  that  no  adequate  means  of  defence  existed,  and 
that  the  hands,  which  had  in  the  midst  of  barbarism 
evoked  these  marvels,  lacked  both  the  power  and  the 
resolution  to  protect  them.  The  frontier  was  exposed 
to  the  invader.  No  efficient  military  force  could  be 
assembled  to  successfully  resist  a  hostile  advance.  The 
stem  qualifications  of  a  soldier  were  not  to  be  obtained 
in  the  effeminate  atmosphere  of  the  Proven9al  court, 
devoted  to  dancing,  poetry,  and  amorous  indulgence. 
Physically  as  well  as  morally  the  soft  and  idle  popula- 
tion of  the  South  was  not  fitted  to  cope  with  hardy 
adventurers  accustomed  to  arms  from  childhood,  tried 
in  a  hundred  battles,  and  exercised  daily  in  the  broils 
and  contests  inseparable  from  the  society  of  a  turbu- 
lent and  lawless  age. 

No  incentive  was  wanting  to  arouse  the  enthusiasm 
of  every  rank, — from  the  king  to  the  villain,  from 
the  ardhbishop  to  the  monk.  The  monarchy  of 
France,  whose  feudal  obligations  nominally  included 
the  powerful  states  of  the  Pyrenees  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean, was,  in  fact,  unable  to  enforce  its  mandates 
beyond  the  Loire.  The  sovereignty  of  that  rich  coun- 
try, now  abandoned  to  conquest,  could  not  fail  to  im- 
measurably augment  the  power  and  consequence  of 
the  crown.  Ecclesiastical  avarice  and  revenge  looked 
longingly  upon  the  wealthy  benefices  usurped  and 
administered  by  heretics,  the  prospect  of  enormous 


94  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

forfeitures,  the  certainty  of  a  fearful  retribution  en- 
tailed by  religious  errors  and  impious  defiance  of  the 
admonitions  of  the  Pope.  Hope  of  the  unbridled 
indulgence  of  every  brutal  passion  appealed  to  the 
baser  and  more  selfish  instincts  of  the  rabble, — ^the 
beggars,  the  robbers,  the  soldiers  of  fortune.  The 
popularity  of  the  enterprise  is  shown  by  the  numbers 
who  assumed  the  cross.  It  is  estimated  that  from 
three  hundred  thousand  to  half  a  million  engaged  in 
the  war,  of  whom  nearly  a  himdred  thousand  were 
fighting  men  who  had  seen  military  service.  There 
was  not  a  government  in  Europe  at  that  time  able  to 
withstand  the  onslaught  of  such  a  force.  Appalled 
by  the  frightful  prospect  of  impending  destruction, 
the  Count  of  Toulouse  consented  to  observe  uncondi- 
tionally the  requirements  of  the  Holy  See,  in  the 
delusive  hope  of  averting  from  his  dominions  the  tem- 
pest which  must  involve  all  his  subjects  in  one  common 
ruin.  His  punishment  was  inflicted  with  every  cir- 
cumstance of  public  ignominy  and  personal  degrada- 
tion. His  exconununication,  long  since  pronounced 
for  heretical  opinions  which  he  did  not  entertain,  was 
not  revoked.  Summoned  before  an  ecclesiastical  coun- 
cil at  Valence,  he  acknowledged  his  sins  and  promised 
future  obedience.  Stripped  naked  to  the  girdle,  he 
was  conducted,  in  the  presence  of  a  great  multitude, 
to  the  front  of  the  principal  church,  where  he  abjured 
his  errors,  and,  his  hands  placed  in  those  of  the  Legate, 
he  swore  allegiance  to  the  Pope.  He  conveyed  to  the 
clergy,  as  security  for  his  obligations,  seven  of  the 
strongest  castles  in  his  dominions, — ^a  fatal  step,  which 
rendered  his  downfall,  hitherto  scarcely  doubtful,  now 
a  matter  of  absolute  certainty.  Then,  a  rope  having 
been  passed  about  his  neck,  he  was  dragged  through 
the  aisle  to  the  altar,  where  he  was  scourged  like  the 
vilest  criminal.  His  recantation  wa^  repeated,  and 
absolution  was  finally  pronounced  xmder  condition  of 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubope  95 

implicit  submission,  and  with  the  promise  that  he 
would  assist  in  the  prosecution  of  a  war  which  in- 
volved the  devastation  of  his  country  and  the  exter- 
mination of  his  subjects.  These  humiliating  sacrifices, 
made  with  the  implied  understanding  that  future  im- 
munity would  be  granted  his  vassals  in  case  they  sub- 
mitted to  pontifical  authority,  proved  imavailing.  The 
clergy  placed  their  own  construction  upon  matters 
in  which  they  were  at  once  prosecutors  and  judges. 
Although  the  Count  of  Toulouse  observed  as  far  as 
possible  the  degrading  conditions  through  whose  per- 
formance he  became  reconciled  to  the  Church,  it  was 
not  the  policy  of  Innocent  to  deal  leniently  with  those 
who  had  disobeyed  her  canons,  questioned  her  inspira- 
tion, or  intercepted  her  revenues.  Pretexts  were  easily 
found  under  which  Raymond  was  accused  of  having 
violated  his  covenants.  His  castles  were  declared 
escheated  to  the  Papacy.  His  actions  were  carefully 
observed,  and  it  became  evident  that  his  presence  witii 
the  Crusaders  was  enforced  rather  than  voluntary. 
The  great  army  which  had  assembled  to  vindicate  the 
outraged  majesty  of  the  Vicar  of  Christ  now  clam- 
ored to  be  led  to  battle.  Their  irresistible  numbers 
darkened  the  plains  of  Lyons  and  spread  consterna- 
tion among  the  peasantry,  whose  women  they  insulted 
and  whose  substance  they  consimied.  The  eminent 
prelates  of  the  French  hierarchy  sanctioned  by  their 
presence  and  their  example  the  most  awful  of  out- 
rages on  human  rights  and  intellectual  liberty.  The 
religious  character  of  the  enterprise  was  indicated  by 
the  predominance  of  the  sacerdotal  order;  by  the  om- 
nipresence of  holy  emblems, — crosiers,  censers,  ban- 
ners, relics;  by  the  mitre  of  the  metropolitan;  by  the 
scallop-shell  of  the  pilgrim;  by  the  cowl  and  the 
knotted  cord  of  the  friar;  by  the  tattered  garb  and 
emaciated  form  of  the  hermit.  The  clergy  were 
headed  by  Arnold,  Abbot  of  Citeaux,  the  Papal  Leg- 


96  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

ate.  Four  archbishops  and  ten  bishops,  in  their  official 
vestments,  were  conspicuous  in  the  van.  Monkish 
zealots,  whose  untaught  eloquence  had  inflamed  the 
worst  passions  of  the  ignorant  populace  of  Europe, 
brandishing  crucifix  and  sword,  and  calling  for  ven- 
geance against  the  abhorred  sectaries  whom  divine 
justice  had  delivered  as  a  prey  to  the  elect,  foaming 
at  the  mouth,  and  uttering  maledictions  and  inarticu- 
late cries,  rushed  to  and  fro  through  the  maddened 
and  tiunultuous  throng.  All  wore  the  cross  embroid- 
ered upon  the  breast,  in  contradistinction  to  the  Cru- 
saders of  Palestine,  who  wore  it  upon  the  shoulder. 
In  the  train  of  the  higher  clergy  were  numerous 
priests  and  thousands  of  dependents  and  retainers. 
The  Archdeacon  of  Paris,  a  distinguished  member  of 
the  church  miUtant,  was  present  in  the  capacity  of 
chief  engineer.  Despite  his  pacific  calling,  he  proved 
himself,  in  the  discharge  of  the  seemingly  incongru- 
ous duties  of  his  new  profession,  one  of  the  most 
talented  soldiers  of  the  age.  The  shrewd  and  politic 
Philip  Augustus,  while  anxious  to  secure  for  the 
Crown  of  France  the  substantial  benefits  certain  to 
result  from  the  conquest  and  spoliation  of  the  great 
feudatories  of  the  South,  yet  unwilling  to  share  the 
ignominy  attaching  to  the  undertaking,  promoted  it 
in  secret,  but  refused  to  openly  employ  the  resources 
of  his  kingdom  in  such  a  cause.  The  French  nobility 
also,  for  the  most  part,  held  aloof;  but  the  names  of 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy  and  the  Counts  of  Nevers  and 
St.  Pol  have  come  down  to  us  as  instruments  of  the 
apostolic  wrath  which  extirpated  the  Albigensian 
heresy. 

Of  all  the  leaders,  spiritual  or  secular,  Simon  de 
Montf  ort.  Earl  of  Leicester,  was  the  most  zealous  and 
distinguished.  An  English  adventurer,  of  ancient  and 
illustrious  lineage,  he  had  long  followed  the  exciting 
career  of  a  soldier  of  fortune,  and  had  won  a  high 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  97 

reputation  for  courage  and  military  capacity  among 
the  Christian  warriors  who  contended  with  the  infidel 
in  the  wars  of  the  Holy  Land.  In  his  political  and 
social  relations,  De  Montfort  was  a  man  of  excep- 
tional probity,  courtesy,  and  honor;  but  in  matters 
that  involved  the  maintenance  of  ecclesiastical  suprem- 
acy, he  was  a  monster  of  savage  brutality,  a  remorse- 
less persecutor,  an  incarnate  fiend.  His  bravery,  his 
fanaticism,  and  his  talents  for  war  early  secured  for 
him  the  admiration  of  the  clergy,  whose  influence 
eventually  raised  him  to  the  supreme  command  of 
the  motley  host  which  their  exhortations  had  as- 
sembled. The  infamy  of  the  Albigensian  crusade  is 
inseparably  associated  with  his  name,  which  has  de- 
scended to  posterity  as  the  synonym  of  all  that  is 
merciless,  base,  and  treacherous  in  the  history  of  re- 
ligious persecution.  Attendant  upon  their  feudal 
lords  were  long  retinues  of  vassals,  resplendent  in 
sumptuous  armor  and  gaudy  liveries,  and  the  sturdy 
yeomanry,  now  beginning  to  assert  their  importance 
in  the  mailed  armies  of  Europe,  The  promise  of 
booty  and  glory,  of  pardon  for  past  offences  and  of 
immunity  for  future  crimes,  had,  as  in  former  Cru- 
sades, drawn  from  every  quarter  the  dregs  of  the  city 
and  the  camp,  the  footpad  and  the  outlaw,  the  merci- 
less slaves  of  rapine,  lust,  and  superstition.  This  mob 
was  for  the  most  part  unarmed,  but  many  were  pro- 
vided with  scythes  and  other  implements  of  husbandry, 
impotent  against  the  armor  of  the  knight,  but  amply 
sufficient  for  the  destruction  of  those  whom  age,  in- 
firmity, or  the  disadvantages  of  sex  rendered  incapable 
of  defence.  Confident  in  their  immense  superiority  in 
numbers,  this  fanatical  and  disorderly  rabble  sWept 
like  a  tornado  over  the  smiling  and  fertile  territory 
of  the  Rhone.  The  authority  of  the  Coimt  of  Tou- 
louse, who,  incapacitated  from  hostile  action  by  his 
humiliating  compact  with  the  Pope,  was  forced  to  aid 

Vol.  in.— 7 


98  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

the  invaders,  had  been  assumed  by  his  nephew,  Ray- 
mond Roger.  The  latter,  relying  upon  the  strength 
of  his  principal  cities,  B6ziers  and  Carcassonne,  two 
of  the  best-fortified  fortresses  in  Europe,  awaited 
the  approach  of  the  enemy  with  the  calm  intrepidity 
bom  of  the  consciousness  of  right  and  the  resolution 
of  despair.  While  the  Crusaders  were  pitching  their 
camp,  they  were  surprised  by  a  sally  of  the  besieged. 
Overwhelmed  by  nimibers,  the  latter  were  driven 
back;  the  gateways,  choked  by  the  fugitives,  per- 
mitted the  ingress  of  the  enemy,  and  almost  in  an 
instant  the  fate  of  the  populous  and  thriving  city  of 
Beziers  was  decided.  In  the  horrible  butchery  that 
ensued  no  quarter  was  shown.  The  old  and  the  young, 
the  strong  and  the  weak,  perished  alike  imder  the 
weapons  of  the  infuriated  assailants.  Catholics  ob- 
tained no  immunity  by  reason  of  their  belief,  but  fell 
by  the  side  of  their  Albigensian  neighbors.  When  the 
soldiers,  in  the  heat  of  the  massacre,  demanded  of  the 
Papal  Legate  how  they  might  distinguish  the  orthodox 
believer  from  the  heretic,  that  pious  monster  replied, 
"  Kill  them  all;  God  will  know  His  ownl"  In  the 
Roman  Catholic  cathedral  seven  thousand  corpses 
were  counted  after  the  assault.  Priests,  clad  in  their 
sacred  vestments,  fell  at  the  very  foot  of  the  altar. 
The  population  of  the  city  had  been  greatly  increased 
by  the  neighboring  peasantry,  who  had  sought  pro- 
tection behind  its  ramparts.  Of  all  this  multitude,  not 
a  single  person  escaped  alive.  The  estimates  of  those 
thus  devoted  to  slaughter  are  variously  given  by  dif- 
ferent writers  at  from  twelve  to  sixty  thousand.  The 
city  was  pillaged  and  set  on  fire,  and  even  the  churches 
and  monasteries  belonging  to  the  See  of  Rome  dis- 
appeared in  the  indiscriminate  destruction.  The  in- 
vading army,  flushed  with  triimiph,  and  not  yet  sati- 
ated with  blood,  next  invested  Carcassonne,  whose 
fortifications,  still  stronger  than  those  of  Beziers, 


MOOBISH  EMPnt£  IN  EUBOPE  99 

offered  some  hope  of  successful  resistance.  Its  re- 
sources, however,  were  seriously  impaired  by  the  nimi- 
ber  of  refugees  who  had  fled  thither  for  safety.  In 
a  few  days  the  water  gave  out.  Defective  sanitary 
conditions,  increased  by  great  masses  of  himian  beings 
crowded  together  in  a  limited  space,  produced  a  pesti- 
lence. A  surrender  was  agreed  upon,  by  which  the 
inhabitants  were  permitted  to  depart,  leaving  behind 
them  all  their  effects.  In  consequence  of  these  rigor- 
ous measures,  the  entire  coimtry  was  filled  with 
starving  beggars,  many  of  whom,  but  a  week  before, 
had  been  living  in  affluence  and  luxury.  The  Vis- 
count, Raymond  Roger,  whose  safe-conduct  had  been 
perfidiously  violated,  was  imprisoned  and  died  sud- 
denly, probably  of  poison. 

The  examples  of  Beziers  and  Carcassonne  were  not 
lost  upon  the  terror-stricken  people  of  Languedoc. 
Strongholds  and  villages  submitted  by  the  himdred 
without  resistance ;  the  garrisons  of  those  castles  which 
held  out  were  massacred  to  a  man;  the  lands  of  the 
heretic  were  parcelled  out  among  the  crusaders,  under 
the  suzerainty  of  that  faithful  and  consistent  servant 
of  the  Papacy,  the  Earl  of  Leicester.  The  establish- 
ment of  the  Inquisition,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Dominican  order  of  friars,  completed  the  ruin  of  the 
country,  whose  civilization  had  long  been  a  shining 
beacon  amidst  the  intellectual  darkness  of  Christen- 
dom. The  classic  monuments  which  had  escaped  the 
violence  of  former  ages  were  broken  to  pieces  or  de- 
faced. The  destruction  of  great  cities,  the  dread  of 
mysterious  tribimals,  whose  victims,  immured  in  filthy 
dungeons  or  devoted,  in  the  name  of  religion,  to  awful 
tortures  and  a  lingering  death,  never  saw  again  the 
light  of  day,  the  insatiable  rapacity  of  the  clergy,  the 
tyranny  of  alien  masters,  depopulated  entire  districts 
and  turned  the  commerce  upon  which  the  prosperity 
of  Southern  France  principally  depended  into  foreign 


100  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

channels,  where  the  property  and  person  of  the  mer- 
chant could  be  reasonably  secure.  The  beautiful  and 
melodious  language  of  the  troubadours,  the  parent  of 
the  modem  idioms  of  Latin  derivation,  which  seemed 
about  to  be  adopted  by  all  the  people  of  French 
extraction,  was  abandoned,  and  degraded  to  a  patois 
which,  much  corrupted,  is  still  spoken  by  the  Gascon 
and  Catalan  peasantry.  The  gay  diversions,  the 
dances,  the  literary  contests,  the  musical  chants  of 
the  jongleur,  the  passionate  and  satirical  verses  of  the 
poet,  the  banquets,  the  Coiuls  of  Love,  the  hunting 
parties,  the  totimaments,  disappeared  forever. 

The  Albigensian  crusade  is  one  of  the  darkest  blots 
upon  the  religious  history  of  Rome.  It  gave  rise  to 
the  infamous  maxim,  then  first  oflScially  promulgated 
by  Papal  authority,  that  no  contract  made  with  here- 
tics was  binding  upon  a  member  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith.  Then  the  civil  power  was  for  the  first 
time  employed  in  the  systematic  and  unrelenting  sup- 
pression of  independent  thought.  Then  was  organ- 
ized and  set  in  motion  the  most  gigantic  and  effective 
engine  of  persecution  that  the  world  has  ever  known. 
Then  was  perfected  that  grand  and  imposing  fabric 
of  government  which,  begun  and  improved  by  the 
genius  of  many  successive  pontiffs,  rose  to  such  a 
towering  height  during  the  administration  of  Inno- 
cent III., — a  system  in  whose  policy  the  religious  and 
the  secular  powers,  while  theoretically  separate,  were, 
in  fact,  closely  co-ordinated  and  combined;  which, 
while  draining  of  its  revenues  every  kingdom  within 
its  grasp,  extolled  beyond  all  virtues  the  merit  of  evan- 
gelical poverty;  which,  while  discouraging  philosophi- 
cal studies,  endeavored  to  secure  a  monopoly  of  learn- 
ing, thus  adding  to  the  superiority  attaching  to  a 
sacred  character  and  profession  the  influence  derived 
from  mental  attainments  and  unusual  erudition;  which 
fastened  upon  Europe  an  intolerable  despotism,  under 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  101 

which  it  was  doomed  to  suffer  for  more  than  three 
himdred  years,  and  which  brought  to  the  prosecution 
of  its  ambitious  designs  every  device  of  intrigue  and 
every  method  of  intimidation,  enforced  by  the  inflic- 
tion of  punishments  whose  ingenious  and  merciless 
atrocity  had  been  hitherto  unknown  to  the  political 
oppression  of  ancient  or  of  mediaeval  times. 

In  this  way  was  the  absolute  power  of  the  Papal 
system  consolidated  by  one  of  the  greatest  of  the 
Supreme  Pontiffs,  through  the  extirpation  of  two 
grand  civilizations  which  for  more  than  a  century 
had  represented  the  intelligence,  the  culture,  and  the 
science  of  Christian  Europe. 

I  have  thus  related — ^not  in  their  chronological 
order,  but  in  the  order  of  their  importance — ^the  events 
growing  out  of  the  rise,  development,  and  suppres- 
sion of  the  intellectual  revolutions  which,  in  the  thir- 
teenth century,  appeared  in  Sicily  and  Southern 
France,  for  the  reason  that  they  were  the  direct  and 
legitimate  results  of  Arab  conquest  and  the  subsequent 
promulgation  of  Arab  philosophical  opinions.  A 
striking  analogy  exists  between  the  circumstances  re- 
spectively connected  with  these  two  great  movements 
of  the  himian  mind.  Both  arose  in  regions  which  had 
been  subject  to  Moslem  domination.  In  both,  after 
the  extinction  of  Saracen  rule,  the  customs  of  the 
vanquished  race  long  maintained  their  influence  over 
the  ruder  conquerors,  who  insensibly  adopted  and  dili- 
gently observed  them.  Commercial  relations  strength- 
ened the  bonds  already  existing  between  Christian 
master  and  Moslem  tributary.  In  the  heyday  of  their 
prosperity,  the  courts  of  Toulouse  and  Palermo  were, 
in  all  but  name  and  costimie,  Mohammedan.  Indeed, 
one  of  these  exceptions  scarcely  applied  to  the  Sicilian 
capital,  where  the  ample  robes  and  spotless  turbans, 
of  the  Moorish  philosophers  suggested  at  every  step 
the  habits  and  traditions  of  the  Orient.    In  Sicily,  the 


102  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

Arabic  language  was  almost  universally  used  by  the 
nobility  and  the  mercantile  classes;  in  Provence  and 
Languedoc,  intercourse  with  the  Moorish  principali- 
ties of  Spain  rendered  its  adoption  necessary  to  a  large 
portion  of  the  community;  in  both  countries  its  study 
formed  an  essential  part  of  a  learned  education.  The 
general  trend  of  scientific  thought,  and  its  practical 
adaptation  to  the  intellectual  requirements  of  the 
people,  is  disclosed  by  the  establishment  of  those  two 
great  literary  foundations,  the  medical  colleges  of 
Salerno  and  Montpellier.  In  the  curriculums  of  these 
magnificent  schools,  which  were  by  no  means  confined 
to  instruction  in  the  art  of  healing,  Arabic  and 
Hebrew  literature,  taught  by  professors  of  those 
nationalities,  predominated.  The  Romance  idiom, 
more  widely  difi^used  than  any  other  tongue  spoken 
in  Europe  since  the  dissolution  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, has,  in  a  measure,  survived  the  calamities  of  con- 
quest and  revolution;  still  indicates  its  Arabic  deriva- 
tion by  words  daily  heard  upon  the  banks  of  the  Seine 
and  the  Danube;  and  forms  no  inconsiderable  portion 
of  the  language  of  the  English-speaking  world.  In 
Italy,  it  made  greater  progress  than  in  any  other 
country,  advancing  simultaneously  through  the  North 
from  France  and  through  the  South  from  Sicily,  su- 
perseding the  unformed  dialects  of  the  Latin  Penin- 
sula, and,  through  its  adoption  by  the  potentates  of 
Ferrara  and  Montferrat,  it  reached  even  the  Greek 
principality  of  Thessalonica;  its  impress  is  to-day 
apparent  in  Portuguese,  in  Castilian,  and  in  the  nu- 
merous soft  and  guttural  dialects  of  Spain. 

From  Moorish  sources,  through  intercourse  with  the 
Hispano-Arabs  and  the  mediimi  of  French  and 
Sicilian  conquest,  were  derived  those  maxims  of 
chivalry  which  modified  the  turbulent  barbarism  of 
feudal  Europe,  the  courteous  gallantry  of  the  tourna- 
ment, idolatrous  devotion  to  the  female  character,  a 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  108 

high  sense  of  honor  and  personal  dignity,  and  the 
refining  amenities  of  social  lif  e- 

From  these  originals  sprang  the  germ  of  modem 
literature  and  the  earliest  models  of  modem  poetry. 
The  Arabs  were  muivalled  masters  of  improvisation, 
an  art  which  attained  an  extraordinary  degree  of 
popularity  in  the  Middle  Ages;  and  the  employment 
of  rhyme,  the  most  important  and  striking  diarac- 
teristic  of  modem  versification,  was  f  amiUar  to  the 
Bedouin  centuries  before  the  appearance  of  Moham- 
med. The  vagrant  bard  of  the  Desert  was  the  Uterary 
progenitor  of  the  troubadour,  as  was  the  Arabian 
buffoon  and  story-teUer  the  prototype  of  his  com- 
panion the  jongleur,  whose  broad  pleasantry  and  sug- 
gestive antics  diverted  the  appreciative  and  not  over- 
delicate  assemblies  of  the  Proven9al  and  Sicilian 
courts.  Through  the  schools  of  MontpeUier  and 
Salerno,  contemporaneous  seats  of  learning  and  both 
dominated  by  Arabian  influence,  the  philosophy  of 
Averroes,  the  botany  of  Ibn-Beithar,  the  surgery  of 
Abulcasis,  the  agriculture  of  Ibn-al-Awam,  the  his- 
tories of  Ibn-al-Khatib,  became  f  amihar  to  the  be- 
nighted and  priest-ridden  people  of  Europe. 

It  was,  however,  in  the  impetus  it  gave  to  the  asser- 
tion of  the  right  of  private  interpretation  in  rehgious 
matters  that  Moorish  influence  was  most  marked  and 
permanent.  One  of  the  principal  tenets  of  the  Mos- 
lem creed  was  toleration.  On  the  other  hand,  the  first 
duty  of  the  Christian  was  unquestioning  obedience  to 
his  spiritual  advisers.  The  rapid  and  almost  miracu- 
lous development  of  the  human  mind  during  the  thir- 
teenth century  was  the  inevitable  consequence  of  a 
policy  based  upon  those  principles  whose  application 
had  promoted  tiie  wonderful  progress  of  every  nation 
ruled  by  the  enUghtened  successors  of  Mohammed. 

The  parallel  existing  between  the  Sicilian  and 
Languedocian  civilizations  in  origin,  in  progress,  in 


104  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

thought,  in  education,  in  skepticism,  in  the  repudiation 
of  ecclesiastical  interference,  is  continued  even  in  the 
date  and  the  method  of  their  extirpation.  Botli 
reached  their  climax  during  the  pontificate  of  Inno- 
cent III.,  the  exemplar  of  Papal  autocracy,  the  ruth- 
less foe  of  religious  freedom,  the  evil  genius  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  Each  was  destroyed  by  a  crusade 
which  imder  the  mask  of  piety  appealed  to  the  most 
sordid  impulses  and  degrading  instincts  of  humanity. 
Both  were  followed  by  conflicts,  seditions,  and  perse- 
cutions which  endured  for  centuries.  But  the  fires, 
while  apparently  quenched,  still  smouldered  imder  the 
ashes  of  their  victims.  The  principles  advocated  by 
philosophical  thinkers  at  the  courts  of  Raymond  and 
Frederick  formed  the  basis  of  the  creeds  of  Lollard, 
Huguenot,  Puritan.  All  of  the  blessings  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  now  enjoyed  by  the  enlightened  na- 
tions of  the  earth,  all  of  the  wonderful  mechanical 
contrivances  which  lighten  toil,  diminish  suffering, 
facilitate  communication,  encourage  commerce,  pro- 
mote manufactures,  and  conduce  to  the  general  hap- 
piness of  the  human  race,  are  indirectly  derived  from 
the  impulse  given  to  philosophical  inquiry  and  scien- 
tific progress  by  the  Norman  kings  of  Sicily,  the  Em- 
peror Frederick  II.,  and  the  Counts  of  Provence,  ani- 
mated by  the  spirit  and  emulous  of  the  achievements 
of  Arab  civilization.  These  inestimable  benefits  are 
inseparable  from  the  innate  right  of  every  individual 
to  freely  exercise  and  profit  by  his  mental  faculties. 
That  right  the  Church  has  always  denied  as  subversive 
of  her  alleged  prescriptive  title  to  universal  sover- 
eignty over  the  opinions  of  mankind.  In  Europe  it 
was  first  publicly  asserted  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Guadalquivir,  and  the  advantages  its  untrammelled 
practice  affords  the  present  generation  are  a  priceless 
legacy  of  the  founders  of  the  Moslem  empire  in  Spain. 


MooEisH  Empire  in  Eubope  105 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

THE  SPANISH  JEWS 

711-1492 

Influence  of  the  Semitic  Race  on  Civilization — Enterprise  of  the 
Ancient  Jews — Their  Eminent  Talents — Their  Power  dur- 
ing the  Middle  Ages — ^Their  Universal  Proscription — ^Their 
Condition  under  the  Moors  of  Spain — Their  Extraordinary 
Attainments — ^Their  Devotion  to  Letters — Their  Academies 
— Rabbis  as  Ambassadors  of  the  Ehalifs — Learned  Men — 
Poets^  Physicians^  Statesmen^  Philosophers  —  Maimonides: 
His  Genius  and  His  Works — His  Character — Preponderating 
Influence  of  the  Spanish  Jews  in  Government  and  Society — 
Their  Necessity  to  the  Ruling  Classes — They  are  driven  to 
Usury — Their  Prosperity — They  are  favored  by  Alfonso  X. 
and  Pedro  el  Cruel — ^Their  Proficiency  in  Medicine — Obli- 
gations of  Mediaeval  and  Modem  Science  to  the  Jews — Their 
Wonderful  Survival  under  Oppression  —  Their  Exile  from 
the  Peninsula  —  Their  Sufferings  —  The  Taint  of  Hebrew 
Blood  in  the  Aristocracy  of  Spain  and  Portugal 

The  preponderance  of  Semitic  influence  is  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  phenomena  in  the  annals  of 
hmnan  civilization.  The  progress  of  those  nations, 
which  in  ancient  times  attained  the  highest  rank  of 
intellectual  culture,  is  directly  traceable  to  that  influ- 
ence. The  success  of  the  Semitic  element  in  modify- 
ing the  character  of  every  people  with  which  it  had 
been  brought  in  intimate  contact,  either  by  conquest 
or  through  commercial  intercourse,  is  one  of  the  most 
striking  and  instructive  incidents  of  history.  From 
the  days  when  the  Phoenicians  controlled  the  trade  of 
antiquity,  profiting  by  their  thorough  knowledge  of 
humanity,  whose  avarice  they  stimulated  by  the  intro- 
duction of  unknown  luxuries,  and  whose  fears  they 
excited  by  the  invention  of  portentous  fables ;  through 


106  History  of  the 

the  Middle  Ages,  whose  tyrants  and  inquisitors  plun- 
dered and  oppressed  the  Hebrew  bankers  and  mer- 
chants of  Europe,  down  to  our  time,  when  the  Jew  is 
not  only  the  possessor  of  a  large  proportion  of  the 
wealth  of  the  globe,  but  also  a  dominating  force  in 
the  business  conmiunity  of  every  city  and  village  of 
the  Old  and  New  Worlds,  the  enterprising  genius  of 
the  Semitic  race  has  been  paramount  in  its  control  over 
the  minds  and  the  f  ortimes  of  men.  And  not  merely 
in  a  mercantile  but  in  a  religious  point  of  view  is  this 
influence  manifest.  The  Scriptures  and  the  Koran 
monopolize  the  pious  reverence  of  the  civilized  world. 
The  successors  of  Mohammed  in  Hindustan  alone 
changed  the  faith  of  forty-one  million  souls.  The 
most  important  dogmas  of  the  Church,  the  leading 
maxims  of  kingly  government,  are  of  Semitic  origin; 
the  majority  of  the  popular  legends  and  tales  which 
compose  the  folk-lore  of  France,  Germany,  Scan- 
dinavia, and  Britain  are  indigenous  to  the  Valley  of 
the  Nile  or  the  plains  of  Arabia.  Asiatic  ideas,  which 
dominated  the  comparatively  insignificant  geographi- 
cal area  of  the  continent  of  Europe  whose  apprecia- 
tion of  the  advantages  of  literary  and  scientific  in- 
vestigation made  it  so  conspicuous  amidst  mediaeval 
ignorance,  have  maintained  their  power  unshaken 
through  many  centuries.  To  the  impulse  thus  im- 
parted to  letters,  modem  society  owes  a  debt  which  it 
long  repudiated,  and  which  it  is  even  now  loath  to 
acknowledge.  Among  those  races  which  have  exer- 
cised the  greatest  influence  on  himian  destiny  that  of 
the  Hebrews  is  pre-eminently  distinguished.  From 
the  earliest  times  of  which  history  makes  mention,  the 
Jews  have  occupied  an  exalted  place  among  civilized 
nations.  They  were  among  the  first  of  traders,  mer- 
chants, navigators.  Neighbors  of  the  Phoenicians,  they 
imbibed  the  conmiercial  spirit  of  that  adventurous 
people,  accompanied  their  expeditions,  participated  in 


I 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  107 

their  enterprises,  shared  their  profits,  and  with  them 
overcame  tiie  obstacles  which  invested  the  navigation 
of  miknown  and  mysterious  seas.  They  were  not  slow 
to  recognize  the  immense  conmiercial  advantages  to 
be  obtained  from  the  development  of  the  boundless 
resources  of  the  Spanish  Peninsula,  whence  the  Tyrian 
and  Sidonian  mariners  brought  such  quantities  of 
silver  that  their  vessels  could  scarcely  transport  it, 
notwithstanding  that  the  anchors,  the  most  common 
utensils,  and  even  the  ballast,  were  composed  of  that 
precious  metal. 

The  accounts  of  the  reign  of  Solomon  afford  abun- 
dant evidence  of  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the 
Hebrews.  Their  abihties  and  services  were  highly 
appreciated  by  the  most  enlightened  governments  of 
antiquity.  They  were  invited  by  the  Ptolemies  to 
establish  colonies  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile.  They  were 
often  intrusted  by  the  Roman  emperors  with  the  col- 
lection and  disbursement  of  the  imperial  revenues. 
The  Emperor  Hadrian  declared  that  during  his 
travels  in  Egypt  he  had  never  met  a  Jew  of  that 
country  who  was  not  an  expert  mathematician.  In 
the  far  Orient,  where  their  ancestors  had  once  been 
detained  in  ignominious  captivity,  they  rose  to  be  the 
confidential  friends  of  powerful  monarchs.  They 
were  known  and  welcomed  in  every  seaport  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  their  thirst  for  gain  even  induced 
them  to  boldly  encoimter  the  perils  of  the  barbarous 
countries  of  Europe.  In  all  their  social  and  poUtical 
relations,  they  maintained  their  reputation  for  that 
mental  superiority  which  is  still  one  of  the  marked 
characteristics  of  the  Hebrew  race.  All  of  the  knowl- 
edge extant  among  contemporaneous  nations  —  the 
secret  lore  of  the  Egyptians,  imparted  in  mysterious 
temples  imder  the  shadow  of  the  Pyramids ;  tiie  hoary 
traditions  of  the  Magi;  the  rich  inheritance  of  classic 
antiquity;    the  argumentative  skill  acquired  in  the 


108  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

Museum  of  Alexandria  and  the  philosophical  schools 
of  Athens — ^was  the  patrimony  of  the  Jew.  His  cu- 
riosity was  awakened  by  travel  and  by  contact  with  a 
hundred  different  peoples  included  witiiin  the  sphere 
of  his  commercial  activity;  his  genius  was  developed 
and  matured  by  studious  industry;  and  the  affluence 
resulting  from  his  shrewdness  enabled  him  to  profit  to 
the  utmost  by  his  unrivalled  opportunities.  No  fact 
is  better  established  tihan  that  the  intellectual  improve- 
ment of  a  nation,  its  progress  in  the  arts,  its  scientific 
acquirements,  its  literary  culture,  have  a  direct  and 
absolute  dependence  upon  its  material  prosperity  and 
the  independent  pecuniary  circumstances  of  its  schol- 
ars  and  learned  men.  WhUe  poverty  is  of  ten  an  in- 
centive  to  that  perseverance  which  insures  success,  it 
is  a  condition  which  only  affects  individual  and  not 
national  development.  Without  leisure,  there  can  be 
no  studies;  without  studies,  no  advance.  Another 
factor  of  paramount  importance  in  the  evolution  and 
maintenance  of  civilization,  and  one  to  which  the 
Hebrew  was  deeply  indebted,  was  the  wide  and  varied 
experience  derived  from  cosmopolitan  habits  and  asso- 
ciations. This  intercourse  was  facilitated  by  the  easy 
and  rapid  means  of  international  communication  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Jewish  trader.  The  Mediter- 
ranean, which  washed  the  shores  of  three  great  conti- 
nents, presented  no  obstacles  to  the  enterprise  of  the 
Phcenidans,  whose  intimate  connections  with  the  Jews 
gave  the  latter  advantages  enjoyed  by  no  other  people; 
and  the  fabled  monsters  invented  by  those  astute  navi- 
gators to  damp  the  ardor  of  other  maritime  adventu- 
rers, and  which  survive  in  the  traditions  of  classic 
mythology,  possessed  no  terrors  for  the  allies  and 
friends  of  the  Tyrian  merchants  and  sailors.  No  area 
of  equal  extent  in  the  world  offered  so  diversified  and 
instructive  a  spectacle  of  human  life  and  manners  as 
the  winding  coast  of  that  great  inland  sea.    With  its 


MooBiSH  Empire  in  Europe  109 

cities  and  its  kingdoms,  founded  under  different 
political  conditions,  living  under  different  systems, 
governed  by  different  laws,  frequent  and  prolonged 
visits  had  early  made  the  Jew  familiar.  To  the  au- 
dacious navigator  who  had  sailed  over  the  mysterious 
Ocean,  far  beyond  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  the  coast- 
ing of  the  Mediterranean  was  a  trifle.  In  subsequent 
times  the  military  highways  of  the  Roman  Empire — 
whose  construction,  the  first  work  after  the  invasion  of 
a  country  destined  to  subjection,  indicated  the  fate  of 
its  people,  and  insured  their  obedience  with  far  more 
certainty  than  the  fortified  camps  of  the  legions — 
afforded  the  Hebrew  merchant  easy  access  to  the  ut- 
most limits  of  the  vast  region  subject  to  imperial  au- 
thority. But  it  was  not  only  in  lands  generally  acces- 
sible to  commercial  enterprise  that  the  mercantile  and 
intellectual  activity  of  the  Jew  was  displayed.  With 
the  periodical  caravans  he  traversed  the  Arabian 
Peninsula,  and  braving  the  perils  of  the  Desert — ^the 
stifling  heat,  the  sand-storms,  the  robbers  who  thrived 
amidst  its  desolation — collected  and  distributed  the 
precious  commodities  of  Yemen.  He  penetrated  to 
the  centre  of  Ethiopia;  his  costume  and  his  wares  were 
known  to  the  inhabitants  of  every  city  on  the  Red 
Sea  and  the  Persian  Gulf.  The  coast  of  Britain  was 
visited  by  Jews  long  before  the  invasion  of  Csesar. 
The  restless,  adventurous  spirit,  so  universal  that  it 
became  a  national  characteristic  fostered  through  un- 
told generations,  and  the  extensive  and  profoimd 
acquaintance  with  the  motives  and  the  affairs  of 
humanity  which  resulted  from  its  exercise,  is  the 
principal  secret  of  the  prodigious  and  phenomenal 
development  of  the  Hebrew  mind.  Other  considera- 
tions of  no  less  importance  contributed  largely  to  this 
result.  In  the  estimation  of  those  who  strictly  ob- 
served the  precepts  of  the  law,  and  to  whom  were 
committed  the  instruction  of  youth  and  the  guidance 


110  History  of  the 

of  the  community,  idleness  was  considered  one  of  the 
most  despicable  of  vices.  "  Whoever,"  say  the  learned 
rabbis,  "  does  not  teach  his  son  some  trade,  rears  him 
for  a  life  of  brigandage ;"  and  the  sedulous  inculcation 
of  this  principle  led  to  its  universal  adoption  and  prac- 
tice, until  its  effects  are  to-day  discernible  in  the  habits 
of  every  individual  of  Hebrew  extraction.  In  ancient 
times  there  was  no  industrial  occupation  whose  require- 
ments were  unfamiliar  to  the  Jewish  artisan,  no  pro- 
fession in  which  the  scholars  of  that  nation  did  not 
excel.  The  talents  of  the  latter  were  often  unprofit- 
ably  employed  in  commentaries  on  the  Talmud  and 
whimsical  interpretations  of  the  Scriptures,  whose 
texts  were  at  times  distorted  to  support  some  absurd 
and  extravagant  conception  which  the  fruitless  in- 
genuity of  the  doctors  of  the  law,  devoted  to  meta- 
physical subtleties,  had  invented.  The  Talmud  was 
regarded  with  even  greater  reverence  than  the  Penta- 
teuch. Its  diligent  perusal  was  required  as  a  duty; 
children  were  familiar  with  its  maxims  long  before 
their  minds  were  sufficiently  developed  to  thoroughly 
comprehend  them;  and  the  mastery  of  this  volumi- 
nous and  incongruous  compilation  was  regarded  as 
the  rarest  and  most  desu'able  of  mental  accomplish- 
ments. From  the  study  of  this  work  was  derived  the 
partiality  for  mysticism,  magic,  and  oneiromancy, 
topics  which  formed  so  large  a  proportion  of  ancient 
Hebrew  literatxu'e,  and  which  frequently  dissipated 
the  efforts  of  genius  which  might  have  been  exercised 
in  more  practical  and  advantageous  employments.  In 
the  Talmud,  however,  are  also  to  be  found  the  germs 
of  medical  science  in  which,  from  the  remotest  an- 
tiquity, the  Jews  were  distinguished,  and  whose  pur- 
suit, thus  sanctioned  by  an  authority  regarded  as 
divine,  became  the  favorite  pursuit  of  that  extraordi- 
nary people.  Some  of  its  ideas  and  principles  had 
been  learned  from  the  Magi  of  Persia;  others  were 


MooBiSH  Empire  in  Eubofe  111 

borrowed  from  the  Egyptian  priesthood.  The  more 
numerous,  and  by  far  the  most  valuable,  precepts 
of  that  science,  however,  were  a  portion  of  the  in- 
heritance transmitted  by  the  noble  school  of  the 
Ptolemies.  With  all  were  mingled  not  a  few  puerile 
superstitions  which  exalted  the  virtues  of  charms  and 
amulets.  The  Bible  gives  many  instances  of  diseases 
and  their  treatment,  which  in  that  age  was  the  pecu- 
liar province  of  the  Levites.  The  talents  of  the  He- 
brew thus  early  directed  to  medicine  and  botany 
arrived  eventually  at  an  extraordinary  degree  of  de- 
velopment; and  his  adaptive  ingenuity  was  revealed 
in  the  discovery  and  application  of  many  indispen- 
sable drugs  of  the  Materia  Medica,  and  in  the  intelli- 
gent use  of  the  instruments  and  caustics  of  the  sur- 
geon. In  ancient  Chaldea  and  Babylonia  there  were 
no  physicians.  The  priesthood,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
enjoyed  a  monopoly  of  learning,  which,  so  far  as  the 
practice  of  medicine  was  concerned,  rested  upon  no 
more  substantial  f  oimdation  than  the  imposture  of  the 
charlatan.  The  cure  of  disease  was  effected  by  the 
exorcism  of  evil  spirits;  and  such  is  the  tenacity  of 
venerable  ideas  and  the  lamentable  credulity  of  the 
human  mind  that,  through  the  influence  of  a  certain 
class  whose  pecuniary  interests  are  directly  involved, 
this  superstitious  belief,  with  others  equally  absurd, 
still  prevails  among  the  members  of  educated  commu- 
nities even  in  our  enlightened  age.  The  difference 
between  the  f etichism  of  the  African  savage,  the  med- 
iaeval relic-cure,  and  the  so-called  Christian  Science  of 
modem  days  is  one  of  degree  and  not  of  kind.  In 
the  infancy  of  civilization  every  malady  was  attrib- 
uted to  demoniacal  possession.  The  Jews  were  the 
first  to  detect  the  true  nature  of  disease  and  to  realize 
the  necessity  for  the  employment  of  physical  remedies, 
where  heretofore,  through  the  medium  of  spells  and 
incantations,  the  aid  of  the  supernatural  alone  had 


112  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

been  invoked.  By  the  adoption  and  application  of 
rational  principles,  they  revolutionized  the  theory  and 
practice  of  medicine.  Their  attempts  to  thus  partially 
emancipate  the  human  mind  from  tibe  degrading  thral- 
dom of  superstition  brought  upon  them  the  anathemas 
of  the  priesthood  wherever  these  innovations  were 
attempted.  The  wonder-workers  of  Pagan  temples 
and  the  monkish  custodians  of  Christian  shrines  saw 
with  dismay  their  incomes  decreasing  as  a  consequence 
of  the  successful  ministrations  of  the  Hebrew  prac- 
titioner. It  was  not  without  reason  that  the  latter 
became  an  object  of  clerical  animadversion,  for  the 
ojfferings  annually  bestowed  by  grateful  credulity 
upon  the  custodians  of  some  apocryphal  relic  of  im- 
aginary virtues  not  infrequently  exceeded  in  value  the 
revenues  of  a  dty.  Much  of  the  prejudice  everywhere 
existing  against  the  Jewish  name  is  thus  attributable  to 
sacerdotal  malevolence,  originally  excited  by  interfer- 
ence with  material  interests.  But  even  in  an  age  of 
ignorance  homage  was  paid,  however  reluctantly,  to 
the  ascendency  of  intellectual  power;  and  the  Jews 
flourished  in  coimtries  where  the  laws  did  not  tolerate 
their  presence  and  sovereigns  were  pledged  by  tiieir 
coronation  oaths  to  their  destruction.  Political  neces- 
sity proved  stronger  than  popular  odium;  and  the 
strange  anomaly  of  a  proscribed  race,  whose  existence 
was  condemned  by  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  codes 
alike,  flourishing  in  the  midst  of  implacable  enemies 
was  exhibited  in  every  coxmtry  of  mediaeval  Europe. 
This  peculiar  condition  was  due  to  the  dominating 
force  of  intellect  alone.  It  is  true  that  toleration  was 
frequently  purchased  with  gold;  but  the  Jews  were 
the  sole  depositaries  of  real  knowledge,  and  without 
their  wise  and  practical  counsels  the  wheels  of  gov- 
ernment could  not  be  kept  in  motion.  This  indispen- 
sable necessity  of  maintaining  in  positions  of  honor 
and  power  a  class  whose  nominal  disabilities  degraded 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  118 

fhem  below  the  legal  status  of  cattle  was  a  result  of 
the  illiterate  and  priest-ridden  state  of  the  Dark  Ages. 

The  cause  of  the  universal  prejudice  existing 
against  the  Jews  from  time  immemorial  has  been  the 
subject  of  much  speculation,  but  has  never  been  defi- 
nitely ascertained.  That  prejudice  long  antedates  the 
Christian  era.  They  were  banished  by  the  Egyptians, 
enslaved  by  the  Persians,  despised  by  the  Greeks,  per- 
secuted by  the  Romans.  So  little  were  they  esteemed 
by  the  latter,  that  during  the  wars  with  Hadrian  four 
Jews  were  bartered  for  a  modius  of  barley.  A  well- 
founded  tradition,  repeated  time  and  again  by  classic 
historians,  declared  that  they  were  expelled  from 
Egypt  for  fear  that  the  plague  might  be  communi- 
cated by  the  loathsome  diseases  with  which  they  were 
afflicted.  In  that  coxmtry,  as  elsewhere  subsequently, 
they  were  isolated  from  all  other  members  of  the 
community.  Moses  is  designated  by  ancient  writers 
as  the  "  Chief  of  the  Lepers."  It  is  well  known  that 
leprosy  was  first  introduced  into  Italy  by  the  soldiers 
of  Pompey,  who  contracted  it  in  Palestine.  This 
awful  malady  was  not  only  indigenous  to  the  latter 
coimtry,  but  was  generally  considered  a  morbid  physi- 
ological condition  peculiar  to  the  Hebrew  people,  with 
whom,  in  fact,  it  was  chronic  and  hereditary,  and 
among  whom  it  assumed  its  most  malignant  and 
appalling  form. 

The  national  customs  of  the  Jews  were  regarded 
with  peculiar  abhorrence  by  the  polished  nations  of 
antiquity.  They  practised  human  sacrifices.  Tacitus 
says  that  they  rendered  distinguished  homage  to  the 
ass,  an  animal  sacred  to  the  Phoenician  goddess  As- 
tarte.  A  golden  head  of  that  animal  was  worshipped 
in  their  temples.  The  Bible  repeatedly  mentions  the 
fact  that  they  were  debased  and  incorrigible  idolaters. 
In  Pagan  Arabia  they  conformed  to  the  religious 

Vol.  ni.— 8 


114  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

customs  of  the  country,  shaved  their  heads,  venerated 
the  images  of  the  Kaaba,  and  made  the  circuit  of  that 
shrine  upon  their  knees.  The  idea  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion, which,  with  that  of  the  Trinity,  formed  no  paxt 
of  the  primitive  belief  of  any  Semitic  race,  but  is  a 
purely  Aryan  conception,  they  learned  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  Babylonian  captivity.  Its  adoption 
was  far  from  unanimous,  however,  for  it  was  always 
repudiated  by  the  Sadducees,  reputed  the  most  ortho- 
dox and  precisian  sect  of  the  Hebrew  nation.  They 
sold  their  children  into  slavery.  Their  personal  habits 
were  indescribably  filthy.  It  was  believed  by  the 
African  Christians  that  a  peculiarly  offensive  odor, 
an  evidence  of  Divine  wrath  provoked  by  the  tragedy 
of  the  crucifixion,  and  which  could  only  be  removed 
by  baptism,  emanated  from  them.  Hatred  of  every- 
thing non-Jewish  was  a  ruling  principle  of  their 
nature  and  conduct,  and  every  country  in  which  they 
were  domiciled  they  betrayed,  in  turn,  to  the  invader. 

The  moral  and  physical  condition — ^that  of  a  race 
of  pariahs  infected  with  foul  distempers — ^which  char- 
acterized them  in  ancient  times  presents  a  singular 
contrast  to  that  under  which  they  actually  existed 
subsequently,  and  under  which  they  exist  to-day. 
They  were  not  affected  by  the  great  epidemics  which 
swept  with  devastating  force  over  Europe  during  the 
Middle  Ages,  although  they  were  as  fully  exposed  to 
contagion  as  any  of  the  nations  which  were  decimated 
by  them.  Their  inmiunity  to  many  of  the  most  serious 
ailments  which  afflict  mankind  is  demonstrated  by 
every  table  of  medical  statistics.  Their  longevity,  im- 
questionably  due  to  a  strong  constitution,  is  proverbial. 
Their  average  annual  death-rate,  in  both  Europe  and 
America,  is  less  than  one-half  that  of  persons  of  other 
nationalities  subjected  to  the  influence  of  similar 
conditions  of  climate,  food,  and  occupation.  Their 
freedom  from  criminality  and  pauperism  is  one  of 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubope  115 

their  most  remarkable  characteristics.  Every  lawyer 
knows  how  rarely  a  Jew  is  seen  in  courts  of  justice, 
either  as  a  litigant,  a  malefactor,  or  a  witness. 

The  propagation  and  improvement  of  a  people 
under  circumstances  which  indicated  their  speedy  and 
inevitable  extinction  is  one  of  the  most  ciu'ious  prob- 
lems in  the  annals  of  ethnology.  Not  only  is  it  anom- 
alous, but  it  is  absolutely  inexplicable  under  any  scien- 
tific and  logical  hypothesis  which  can  now  be  advanced. 
It  would  ordinarily  be  conceded  that  a  race  affected 
with  congenital  leprosy,  whose  habits  were  uncleanly, 
and  whose  members  constantly  intermarried,  must 
certainly  perish  in  a  few  generations.  It  would  also 
not  be  denied  that  such  a  race  would  be  especially 
liable  to  visitations  by  epidemics,  and  that  its  reduced 
capacity  for  resistance  would  induce  an  extraordinary 
fatality.  Not  so,  however,  with  the  Jews.  They  grew 
stronger  by  intermarriage.  They  threw  off  the  disease 
which  had  once  made  them  odious  in  the  sight  of  men. 
The  plague  and  the  typhus  which  desolated  the  homes 
of  their  neighbors  passed  them  by.  They  not  only 
survived,  but  throve  under  persecution  which  would 
have  exterminated  any  other  branch  of  the  human 
family.  Their  tenacity  of  life,  the  persistence  of  their 
institutions,  the  boundless  power  they  wield  in  the 
commercial  world,  their  versatility  of  character,  their 
success  in  the  most  difficult  undertakings,  their  na- 
tional and  religious  organization  maintained  in  the 
face  of  appalling  obstacles,  tend  to  confirm  the  an- 
cient tradition  that  they  are  the  Chosen  People  of 
God. 

The  Hebrew,  whatever  his  capacity  or  experience, 
was  in  the  eye  of  the  law  immeasurably  inferior  to  the 
most  humble  and  ignorant  of  those  who  ruled  him.  He 
paid  higher  taxes  than  any  one  else.  His  testimony 
was  not  competent  in  a  court  of  justice.  He  was  ex- 
cluded from  the  enjoyment  of  office.    If,  having  be- 


116  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

come  an  apostate  through  force  or  policy,  he  addressed 
a  word  to  one  who  was  loyal  to  the  faith  and  tradi- 
tions of  his  people,  even  though  of  his  own  blood,  he 
was  condemned  to  slavery.  He  was  not  permitted  to 
abstain  from  food  which  his  ordinances  declared  un- 
clean. The  practice  of  the  rite  of  circumcision,  a  rite 
pronounced  by  the  rabbi  more  meritorious  than  all 
others,  and  enjoined  by  the  Talmud,  brought  with  it 
confiscation  and  death.  The  ancient  national  records 
—the  books  of  the  Law,  the  chronicles  of  bygone 
dynasties,  the  treatises  of  Hebrew  physicians  already 
prominent  in  the  world  of  science — ^were  diligently 
sought  for  and  destroyed.  Every  effort  was  made  to 
separate  wives  from  their  husbands  and  slaves  from 
their  masters,  by  the  edict  that  the  ceremony  of  bap- 
tism, when  solicited  by  consort  or  bondsman,  produced, 
according  to  circumstances,  ipso  factOj  divorce  or 
emancipation.  All  Jews  were  enrolled  upon  the 
public  registers,  and  at  stated  times  were  mustered 
by  the  bishop.  They  were  also  required  to  report 
to  the  magistrate  at  every  town  they  visited,  to  be 
examined  as  to  their  business  and  destination.  The 
Seventeenth  Council  of  Toledo,  by  a  sweeping  decree, 
seized  the  property  of  all  the  Jews  in  the  kingdom  and 
sentenced  its  owners,  without  exception,  to  absolute 
servitude.  They  were  accused  of  practices  alike  re- 
volting to  humanity  and  subversive  of  morals, — of 
poisoning  the  sacramental  elements,  of  the  torture  of 
children,  of  crimes  against  nature,  of  cannibalism. 
The  ecclesiastical  denimciations  of  offences  concern- 
ing religion,  such  as  the  blasphemy  of  images  and 
relics,  the  ridicule  of  orthodox  tenets,  the  promulga- 
tion of  the  doctrines  of  the  Talmud,  and  the  soliciting 
of  proselytes,  were  not  less  violent  than  those  which 
reprobated  the  greatest  enormities  of  which  human 
frailty  is  susceptible.  Every  rank  of  society  vied  with 
the  others  in  manifestations  of  hostility  towards  the 


Moorish  Emfibe  in  Eubope  117 

despised  race.  The  monarch,  upon  frivolous  pretexts, 
confiscated  their  property  and  abandoned  them  to  the 
violence  of  the  populace.  In  the  eyes  of  the  ferocious 
noble,  who  scarcely  acknowledged  the  superior  dig- 
nity of  his  king,  they  were  sources  of  wealth  to  be 
utilized  as  occasion  or  inclination  demanded;  and  the 
levy  of  an  excessive  contribution  was  regarded  as  an 
act  of  especial  leniency,  when  the  last  ducat  might 
have  been  exacted  with  impunity.  The  Church  never 
failed  to  pour  out  upon  these  victims  of  prejudice 
the  full  measure  of  ecclesiastical  oppression  and 
hatred,  and  no  deed  was  more  meritorious  than  the 
persecution  of  a  Jew.  But  it  was  with  the  lower 
orders  that  the  unfortunate  Children  of  Israel  fared 
the  worst.  Their  wealth  aroused  the  basest  passions 
of  the  ignorant  and  fanatical  rabble.  To  the  malice 
incited  by  poverty  and  envy  was  added  the  animosity 
engendered  by  religious  prejudice,  which  found  ex- 
pression in  every  kind  of  maltreatment  and  outrage. 
Although  necessary  to  the  state  and  indispensable  to 
its  poHtical  and  financial  prosperity,  the  Jew  was  pre- 
cluded from  claiming  the  protection  of  the  very  laws 
he  assisted  to  administer.  Deprived  of  this  unques- 
tionable right,  he  was  unfitted  by  his  constitution,  his 
habits,  and  his  traditions  for  armed  resistance.  Cen- 
turies of  oppression  had  taught  him  to  rely  on  pacific 
rather  than  on  violent  measures  for  the  discomfiture 
of  his  enemies.  None  understood  more  thoroughly 
than  he  the  secret  springs  of  action  which  control  the 
movements  of  mankind;  and  with  its  worst  and  most 
degrading  characteristics,  his  experience,  reaching 
through  many  troubled  generations,  had  rendered  him 
especially  familiar.  His  practical  and  thorough  ac- 
quaintance with  every  foible  of  human  nature  thus 
made  him  equal  to  the  exigencies  of  every  occasion. 
He  dispensed  his  gold  with  unstinted  liberality.  Pow- 
erful nobles,  everywhere,  were  in  his  pay.    Ecclesi- 


118  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

astics  of  eminent  talents  and  reputed  sanctity  were 
not  ashamed  to  accept  his  gifts,  and,  in  return,  to 
secretly  and  effectually  protect  his  person  and  his  in- 
terests. No  efforts  were  spared  to  impress  the  sover- 
eign with  the  extent  of  his  attainments  and  the  value 
of  his  services.  The  people,  despite  their  prejudices, 
looked  with  awe  and  respect  upon  the  members  of  a 
race  who  had  visited  lands  whose  very  names  were 
imknown  to  them,  who  conversed  fluently  in  strange 
and  guttural  tongues,  and  who  spread  before  their 
wondering  and  deUghted  eyes  precious  articles  of 
merchandise  of  whose  existence  they  had  hitherto  re- 
mained in  ignorance. 

Under  such  circumstances,  however  disadvanta- 
geous, the  Jews,  scattei^d  throughout  the  countries 
of  Europe,  maintained  from  century  to  century  the 
integrity  of  their  social  and  religious  organization. 
Their  isolation  was  in  many  respects  productive  of 
personal  safety  and  financial  benefit.  Exempted  by 
their  civil  disabilities  from  exposure  to  the  dangers  of 
revolution,  they  escaped  the  penalties  of  unsuccessful 
treason  and  profited  by  the  necessities  of  every  fac- 
tion. They  alone  of  all  classes  flourished  amidst  the 
perils  of  internal  disorder.  By  the  liberal  and  judi- 
cious employment  of  money,  they  secured  the  favor 
of  the  party  for  the  moment  in  power.  Meanwhile 
the  commerce  of  every  country  was  almost  exclu- 
sively under  their  control.  No  competition,  of  any 
importance,  interposed  to  diminish  their  enormous 
profits.  There  was  not  a  city,  scarcely  a  hamlet,  where 
the  Hebrew  was  not  sure  of  sympathy  and  assistance 
from  his  countrymen.  With  them  his  goods  were 
isecure.  They  afforded  him  valuable  information. 
Their  experience  enabled  him  to  obtain  the  highest 
prices  for  his  wares,  and  the  secret  intelligence  at  their 
disposal  gave  him  timely  warning  of  the  presence  of 
danger  and  facilitated  his  escape.    His  cosmopolitan 


MooEiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  119 

habits  prevented  national  affiliations,  and  pennitted 
him  to  immediately  change  his  residence  whenever  it 
was  required  by  personal  considerations  or  conmiercial 
interests.  He  bought  amber  on  the  Baltic.  He  sold 
slaves  in  Constantinople.  He  exchanged  the  com- 
modities of  Spain  for  the  furs  of  Russia  and  the 
pearls  and  incense  of  Yemen.  In  France  he  found 
a  profitable  market  for  jewels,  spices,  and  cochineal. 
His  intimate  and  extensive  relations  with  the  great 
emporiums  of  the  Orient  were  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant factors  of  his  success.  In  that  quarter  of 
the  world,  enjoying  the  protection  and  confidence  of 
the  rulers  of  Persia,  Babylonia,  Sjnria,  and  Egypt, 
were  to  be  found  the  most  powerful  and  wealthy  com- 
mimities  of  the  Hebrew  nation.  The  onmipresent 
Jew  had  established  a  chain  of  trading  stations  across 
every  continent,  and  even  far  beyond  the  most  distant 
limits  of  civilization.  This  immense  advantage  was 
his  alone;  no  competitor  possessed,  or  could  ever  hope 
to  obtain,  such  extraordinary  mercantile  facilities. 
From  the  depths  of  the  mysterious  East  came  the  rare 
products  which  commanded  fabulous  prices  in  the 
European  capitals, — costly  tissues,  gems,  dyes,  aro- 
matics,  porcelain, — ^articles  which  often  brought  far 
more  than  their  weight  in  gold.  The  monopoly  en- 
joyed by  the  shrewd  importers  enabled  them  to  receive 
for  their  commodities  simis  which  far  exceeded  their 
intrinsic  value,  and  placed  them  beyond  the  reach  of 
any  excepting  the  most  opulent. 

But  the  enterprise  of  the  Jew  was  not  confined  to 
the  importation  and  distribution  of  luxuries.  He 
furnished  society  with  every  species  of  merchandise, 
from  the  crown  of  the  monarch  to  the  sandals  of  the 
beggar.  The  law  forbade  him  to  be  seated  by  an 
ecclesiastic  without  the  latter's  invitation,  but  the 
bishop  was  compelled  to  purchase  of  him  the  sacer- 
dotal vestments  in  which  his  race  was  anathematized; 


120  History  of  the 

and  the  sacred  furniture  of  the  altar,  including  even 
the  crucifix,  the  significant  emblem  of  the  Passion,  was 
sold  to  the  cathedral  chapter  by  the  descendants  of 
those  who  had  enacted  the  tragedy  of  Golgotha,  and 
had  trafficked  in  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Savioiur. 
The  Jews  of  Provence  paid  their  tribute  to  the  Chiurdi 
in  wax,  and  provided  the  tapers  used  in  the  ceremonies 
of  great  religious  festivals.  The  vessels  destined  for 
the  celebration  of  the  mass  were  frequently  disposed 
of  to  Jewish  merchants  by  dishonest  custodians; 
and  this  sacrilegious  trade  became  at  one  time  so 
notorious  and  shameless  in  France  as  to  call  forth  the 
indignant  denimciation  of  the  Holy  See.  The  pawn- 
ing of  objects  consecrated  to  Christian  worship  for 
loans  ostensibly  contracted  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Church  was  one  of  the  most  flagrant  abuses  of  eccle- 
siastical authority  in  mediaeval  times.  These  pledges, 
often  forfeited,  became  the  property  of  the  lender, 
and  the  clergy  were  constantly  subjected  to  the  scandal 
arising  from  their  exposure  for  sale  in  the  shops  and 
public  markets.  It  was  no  unusual  circumstance  in 
those  days  for  the  greater  part  of  the  sacred  plate  of 
an  entire  diocese  to  be  temporarily  in  the  hands  of 
Jewish  usurers.  It  was,  moreover,  a  matter  of  com- 
mon notoriety  that  the  families  of  wealthy  Jewish 
brokers  daily  drank  from  golden  chalices  in  which  once 
had  been  offered  the  holy  sacramental  wine  of  the 
mass. 

The  confidence  reposed  by  all  classes  in  the  He- 
brews, despite  the  universal  and  ineradicable  preju- 
dice entertained  against  their  nationality,  affords  un- 
deniable proof  of  their  integrity.  Their  financial 
capacity  and  experience  procured  for  them  the  office 
of  receiver  of  royal  taxes  in  countries  where  public 
sentiment  was  absolutely  opposed  to  their  toleration. 
Their  fitness  for  this  important  and  responsible  post 
was  emphasized  not  only  by  their  abilities,  but  by  the 


Moorish  Emfibe  in  Europe  121 

fact  that  their  prosperous  circumstances  were,  in  a 
measure,  a  guaranty  of  their  honesty,  their  wealth 
removing  the  principal  incentive  to  peculation.  The 
most  higoted  Christians  eagerly  sought  their  services 
in  the  management  of  property  and  the  settlement  of 
estates;  and  to  their  sagacity  and  wisdom  was  fre- 
quently committed  the  solution  of  the  difficult  proh- 
lems  relating  to  the  methods  of  taxation  and  enforced 
contribution  adopted  by  both  the  Crown  and  the 
Church.  During  the  Middle  Ages,  every  court  in 
Europe  patronized  the  Hebrew  physician.  His  prac- 
tice, while  by  no  means  free  from  the  prevailing  char- 
latanism of  the  time,  embodied  many  principles  of 
the  healing  art  still  recognized  as  sound,  and  repre- 
sented all  that  was  then  known  of  medical  science. 

In  hterary  culture,  as  in  commercial  ability  and 
scientific  acquirements,  the  mediaeval  Jew  of  Christian 
Europe  had  no  rivals.  It  was  an  extraordinary  cir- 
cumstance when  a  sovereign  could  even  read,  in  an 
age  when  one  of  the  greatest  princes  in  Europe  was 
invested  with  the  title  of  Beauclerc  because  he  could 
write  his  own  name  legibly,  a  remarkable  distinction  in 
an  era  of  almost  universal  ignorance.  Such  accom- 
plishments, when  they  did  exist  in  any  community, 
were  almost  entirely  confined  to  the  clerical  profes- 
sion, and,  even  among  its  members,  were  far  from 
being  generally  diffused.  The  officiating  priest  had, 
ordinarily,  sufficient  education  to  enable  him  to 
stumble  through  the  pages  of  his  missal.  In  the  mo- 
nastic establishments,  where  the  opportunity  afforded 
by  solitude  and  leisure  permitted,  and  even  encour- 
aged, the  cultivation  of  letters,  the  talents  of  able 
men  were  too  often  wasted  in  frivolous  and  unprofit- 
able pursuits.  While  such  unpromising  conditions 
prevailed  among  the  higher  classes,  the  state  of  the 
populace  was  incredibly  degraded.  The  latter  natu- 
rally looked  to  its  spiritual  advisers  for  instruction  and 


122  History  of  the 

guidance,  and  the  evil  influence  of  the  Church  was 
everywhere  significantly  disclosed  by  the  crowds  of 
stupid  and  fanatical  devotees  who  listened  with  awe 
and  rapture  to  the  incoherent  harangues  of  monkish 
zealots,  or,  bowed  upon  their  faces,  grovelled  in  the 
mire  before  the  idolatrous  shrine  of  some  spurious 
saint. 

In  the  midst  of  the  darkness  which  obscured  the 
face  of  the  mediaeval  world,  Hebrew  learning  emitted 
a  small  but  brilliant  ray  of  light.  Priestly  tyranny 
and  popular  odiima  prevented  the  regeneration  of  the 
masses,  which,  under  different  auspices,  might  readily 
have  been  accomplished.  The  erudition  of  the  early 
rabbis,  remarkable  even  at  the  present  time,  was,  in 
the  age  in  which  they  flourished,  absolutely  phenome- 
nal. Their  superior  intelligence  and  extensive  ac- 
quirements caused  them  to  be  universally  branded  as 
wizards  and  enchanters.  Men  shunned  all  intercourse 
with  them,  and  even  feared  to  encounter  them  upon 
the  highways.  No  greater  tribute  could  be  paid  to 
their  knowledge  and  ability  than  the  ecclesiastical  de- 
crees laimched  against  the  Jews  at  the  very  time  when 
their  talents  were  employed  in  directing  the  financial 
affairs  of  the  Church.  In  spite  of  his  indispensable 
usefulness  to  government  and  society,  the  proscribed 
Hebrew  was  always  under  the  ban  of  the  law  and 
lived  in  a  state  of  constant  apprehension.  Princes 
claimed  and  exercised  the  privilege  of  absolute  owner- 
ship of  all  the  Jews  and  their  property  in  their  do- 
minions. Even  such  an  enlightened  sovereign  as  the 
Emperor  Frederick  II.  published  a  sweeping  edict 
reducing  the  Jews  of  his  realms  to  servitude,  and 
declaring  their  wealth  forfeited  to  the  state.  In  Eng- 
land, near  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  every 
Jew  in  the  kingdom  was  arrested  and  held  in  durance 
imtil  a  ransom  of  twelve  thousand  pounds  had  been 
extorted.    Three  years  afterwards  all  their  property 


MooBisH  Empibe  in  Europe  128 

was  taken,  and  they  were  expelled  from  the  country. 
The  hishop  often  received,  as  a  token  of  royal  esteem, 
the  present  of  the  Jews  of  his  diocese.  This  singular 
prerogative,  which  was  neither  based  upon  prescriptive 
(nistom,  former  enslavement,  nor  any  claim  excepting 
that  of  force,  was  first  exerted  in  France;  and  the 
enormous  profits  resulting  from  its  application  led  to 
its  general  adoption  by  all  the  Christian  sovereigns  of 
Europe.  The  Jew,  by  the  stringent  restrictions  of 
savage  laws,  was  degraded  below  the  level  of  hu- 
manity. The  owner  of  a  beast  was  entitled  to  fixed 
legal  compensation  for  its  death,  but  no  penalty  was 
enacted  and  no  damages  could  be  claimed  for  the 
murder  of  a  Jew.  If  maltreated,  no  evidence  could 
be  received  against  his  assailant.  The  Jews  of  Tou- 
louse, who,  tradition  declared,  had  sxurendered  the 
city  to  the  Moors,  were  condemned  each  year  on  that 
anniversary  to  furnish  one  of  their  nimiber  to  receive 
a  box  on  the  ear  at  the  cathedral  door.  One  of  the 
oldest  and  most  respectable  of  the  community  was 
always  selected;  the  Mow  was  usually  given  with  a 
mailed  hand,  and  the  victim  not  infrequently  died 
from  the  effects  of  it.  Dming  Passion  Week,  the 
active  persecution  of  the  accursed  sect  was  considered 
so  meritorious  as  to  be  almost  equivalent  to  the  per- 
formance of  a  religious  duty.  At  that  time  no  He- 
brew could  appear  in  the  street  without  endangering 
his  life.  On  Good  Friday,  in  the  year  1016,  an  earth- 
quake destroyed  many  of  the  houses  in  Rome.  Pope 
Benedict  VIII.,  having  learned  that  at  the  time  of  its 
occurrence  the  Jews  were  worshipping  in  their  syna- 
gogue, and  attributing  the  catastrophe  to  their  influ- 
ence, caused  a  great  nmnber  to  be  massacred.  At  all 
times  they  were  exposed  to  the  contumely  of  adults 
and  the  petty  persecutions  of  children.  The  isolated 
quarter  in  every  community,  to  which  their  residence 
was  restricted,  and  separated  from  the  dwellings  of 


124  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

orthodox  Christians  to  prevent  contamination,  is  to- 
day, in  nearly  all  the  cities  of  Europe,  still  known  by 
its  once  distinctive  name;  although,  in  most  instances, 
its  Jewish  population  has  disappeared.  It  was  also  a 
common  pastime  of  the  mob  to  stone  the  houses  of 
the  Jews,  and,  as  the  latter  were  not  permitted  to  de- 
fend themselves,  all  large  towns  resounded  with  tu- 
mult and  disorder  during  the  celebration  of  the  most 
sacred  festival  of  Christendom.  Upon  every  occai^ion, 
these  imf  ortunates  were  pursued  and  baited  like  wild 
animals;  always  with  the  tacit  connivance,  often  with 
the  open  encouragement,  of  the  authorities.  Their 
intimate  relations  with  the  countries  of  the  East 
offered  substantial  grounds  for  the  belief  that  they 
introduced  leprosy  into  France,  Spain,  and  England, 
— ^a  disease  whose  general  dissemination  has  ordinarily 
been  credited  to  the  Crusades,  but  whose  existence  in 
France  as  early  as  the  sixth  century  must  be  attrib- 
uted to  some  anterior  agency.  The  undoubted  Ori- 
ental origin  of  this  malady  pointed  strongly  to  the 
itinerant  Jewish  merchants  as  responsible  for  its  ap- 
pearance in  Western  Europe;  while  its  loathsome  and 
incurable  character  tended  to  increase  the  popular 
odium  with  which  those  suspected  of  infecting  a  por- 
tion of  the  hvmian  race  hitherto  exempt  from  this 
afSiction  were  universally  regarded. 

Every  precaution  which  could  have  a  tendency  to 
maintain  the  social  and  domestic  ostracism  that  popu- 
lar intolerance  had  placed  upon  the  Jew  was  enforced 
by  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authority.  He  could  not 
legally  marry  a  Christian,  inherit  real  property,  hold 
slaves.  In  royal  donations,  where,  without  warrant  of 
right  or  pretence  of  ancient  custom,  he  was  deprived 
of  his  liberty  and  his  possessions,  his  person  was  there- 
after attached  to  the  glebe.  He  was  forbidden  the 
exercise  of  many  of  the  most  profitable  mechanical 
arts  in  which  he  excelled.     Christians  could  not  eat 


MooEiSH  Empire  IN  Eueope  126 

or  drink  with  him,  visit  his  house,  Ksten  to  his  conver- 
sation, or  learn  his  language.  The  priesthood  con- 
sidered the  integrity  of  the  doctrines  which  were  at 
once  the  foundation  and  the  instruments  of  their 
power  as  of  far  greater  importance  than  the  material 
comfort  and  intellectual  improvement  of  their  parish- 
ioners. They  were  quick  to  recognize  the  peril  with 
which  ecclesiastical  institutions  would  be  threatened 
if  exposed  to  the  logic  and  sarcasm  of  Hebrew  criti- 
cism. The  necessities  of  society  could  not,  as  yet,  per- 
mit the  extermination  of  the  Jews,  but  their  practical 
isolation  was  imperatively  demanded  by  considerations 
of  prudence,  and  by  the  just  apprehension  that  the 
toleration  of  social  intimacy  would  eventually  result 
in  the  emancipation  of  the  masses  from  ignorance,  and 
the  consequent  disintegration  of  the  Church.  The 
Dominican  and  Franciscan  Orders  were  the  sworn 
enemies  of  the  Jew  from  the  very  day  of  their  organi- 
zation. The  Inquisition  was  introduced  into  Spain 
for  the  express  purpose  of  plundering  the  rich  Jews 
of  Aragon.  The  efforts  of  the  Papacy  were  assisted 
by  the  policy  of  the  more  bigoted  of  the  rabbis,  who 
saw,  with  no  less  apprehension  than  their  Christian 
oppressors,  the  diffusion  of  liberal  ideas  which  threat- 
ened their  own  authority  and  importance.  Under  such 
discouraging  conditions  had  the  Jews  maintained  their 
national  existence,  the  purity  of  their  religion,  the  per- 
petuation of  their  customs,  the  permanence  of  their 
laws  amidst  the  anarchy,  corruption,  and  intolerance 
of  mediaeval  Europe. 

The  origin  of  this  strange  people  is  absolutely  un- 
known. Their  roving  propensity  probably  dates  from 
the  very  foundation  of  the  race,  as  the  words  Hebrew 
and  pilgrim  are  derived  from  the  same  root.  No  ques- 
tion, however,  can  exist  concerning  their  Semitic 
affiliations.  Their  geographical  distribution  was  ex- 
tensive in  very  early  times.    The  most  ancient  collec- 


126  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

tion  of  myths  extant  describes  their  migrations.  They 
were  nmnerous  in  China  during  the  third  century 
before  Christ.  Profoundly  superstitious,  implicit  be- 
lievers in  omens,  idolaters  while  professing  mono- 
theism, the  facile  dupes  of  wizards  and  magicians, 
the  simplest  phenomena  of  nature  were  always,  in 
their  eyes,  invested  with  a  mysterious  or  an  astrological 
significance.  Even  their  division  into  tribes  has  been 
traced  by  Dbzy  to  a  cabalistic  association  with  the 
twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac. 

The  Israelites  are  first  noticed  in  history  as  a  horde 
of  vagabond  herdsmen  in  Mesopotamia.  Oppressed 
by  powerful  neighbors,  repeatedly  enslaved,  and  re- 
duced to  those  depths  of  moral  degradation  incident 
only  to  long-continued  servitude,  they  still  succeeded 
in  preserving  inviolate  the  principles  of  their  religious 
and  social  organization.  They  were  almost  univer- 
sally considered  as  outcasts,  with  whom  it  was  contami- 
nation to  associate.  But  in  all  their  adversity  their 
peculiar  theocratic  belief  confirmed  their  resolution 
and  sustained  their  hopes.  They  were  the  Chosen 
People  of  God.  His  Spirit  was  ever  with  them, 
speaking  through  the  voices  of  their  teachers,  direct- 
ing the  councils  of  their  rulers,  illuminating  the  Holy 
of  Holies  of  the  Tabernacle,  hovering  about  the  Ark 
with  its  golden  cherubim.  They  had  the  Divine  assur- 
ance that  one  day  their  troubles  would  end,  that  the 
scattered  members  of  their  race  would  be  again  united, 
that  they  would  inherit  the  kingdoms  and  possess  the 
riches  of  the  earth.  Their  arrogant  exclusiveness  was 
unconsciously,  but  none  the  less  diligently,  fostered 
by  the  prejudices  and  regulations  of  the  countries 
within  whose  borders  they  fixed  their  residence.  In 
each  city  they  were  confined  to  a  certain  quarter, 
within  whose  precincts  Christian  men  were  little  dis- 
posed, and  Christian  women  absolutely  forbidden,  to 
enter.    The  use  of  a  distinctive  costume,  popularly 


Moorish  Empike  in  Eukope  127 

regarded  as  a  badge  of  ignominy,  was  imposed  upon 
them.  They  were  not  allowed  to  marry  outside  their 
sect.  The  minute  and  innimaerable  restrictions  of 
Hindu  caste  were  not  more  rigid  or  vexatious  than 
those  ordinances  which  regulated  the  intercourse  of 
Jew  and  Christian  during  the  Middle  Ages.  The  en- 
forcement of  these  social  distinctions,  as  well  as  the 
inexorable  requirements  of  the  laws,  increased  the  iso- 
lation of  the  Jews  in  every  community.  In  this  man- 
ner their  unity  was  preserved,  and  the  extraordinary 
vitality  which  characterized  their  existence  in  all  its 
phases  was  promoted. 

In  no  part  of  Europe  had  their  influence  exhibited 
such  constant,  marked,  and  permanent  effects  as  in 
the  Spanish  Peninsula.  On  its  coast,  with  which 
their  ancestors  had  long  been  familiar,  and  where 
archaeological  research  has  placed  the  Tarshish  of 
Holy  Writ,  the  establishment  of  the  Hebrew  is  of 
such  high  antiquity  that  history  has  failed  to  record 
it;  and  it  may  not  unreasonably  be  assumed  that  it 
antedated  the  Christian  era  by  at  least  a  thousand 
years.  The  turbulent  and  perfidious  character  of  the 
Hebrew  sectaries  caused  them  to  be  regarded  with 
apprehension  by  the  Romans.  In  the  time  of  Ha- 
drian, their  old  and  powerful  families  were  distrib- 
uted, as  a  measure  of  public  safety,  among  the  most 
widely  separated  provinces  of  the  empire.  The  fact  is 
well  ascertained  that  the  Spanish  Jews  were  rich  and 
numerous  in  the  fifth  century,  and  then  practically 
controlled  the  commerce  and  the  financial  resources  of 
the  country.  Even  at  that  early  period  they  were 
renowned  for  their  intellectual  accomplishments,  their 
extensive  literature,  their  dexterity  in  the  mechanical 
employments,  the  assiduity  with  which  they  pursued 
the  most  abstruse  branches  of  science,  and  their  pro- 
ficiency in  those  practical  arts  which  tend  to  the  ame- 
lioration of  the  condition  of  the  human  race  and  the 


128  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

prolongation  of  the  term  of  human  life.  As  has  beea 
mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,  although  occasion- 
ally pursued  by  royal  avarice  and  clerical  animosity, 
the  Jews  did  not  experience  in  Spain  the  full  effects 
of  that  hatred  which  seemed  to  be  their  unhappy  birth- 
right until  the  accession  of  Reccared,  the  first  orthodox 
sovereign  of  the  Visigothic  dynasty.  From  the  latter 
part  of  the  sixth  century,  the  malice  accumulated  in 
the  church  and  the  cloister  through  ages  of  alternate 
restraint  and  forbearance  was  unmercifully  wreaked 
upon  them.  The  Visigothic  Code  is  largely  taken  up 
with  the  statement  of  their  disabilities,  the  denun- 
ciation of  their  customs,  the  enumeration  of  their 
offences,  and  the  description  of  the  penalties  to  be 
inflicted  by  the  avenging  magistrate.  The  paternal 
character  of  the  ecclesiastical  legislation,  then  and 
long  afterwards  in  the  ascendant  in  the  Councils, 
scrutinized  with  jealous  vigilance  not  only  the  public 
actions  of  the  offensive  sectaries,  but  invaded  with 
brutal  violence  the  sacred  privacy  of  domestic  life. 
The  celebration  of  all  national  religious  festivals  was 
prohibited.  A  Jew  could  not  be  a  witness  against  a 
Christian ;  intermarriage  of  the  two  races  was  declared 
null  and  void,  and  all  issue  of  such  unions  were  subject 
to  seizure  by  the  clergy,  to  be  reared  and  educated 
in  monastic  institutions;  circumcision  was  declared 
illegal;  and  the  grotesque  cruelty  of  the  law  which 
enforced  the  use  of  pork  as  food  violated  without 
cause  or  excuse  a  rational  prejudice  of  the  Jew, 
established  by  Divine  command  and  confirmed  by  the 
imbroken  practice  of  countless  generations  of  his  kins- 
men. The  observance  of  these  savage  and  unreason- 
able regulations  was  enforced  by  penalties  of  corre- 
sponding severity.  The  culprit  was  usually  burned 
alive;  in  cases  where  it  seemed  that  leniency  might  be 
properly  exercised,  he  was  stoned  to  death.  The  con- 
stant and  systematic  evasion  of  these  laws,  which  even 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  129 

priestly  malevolence  hesitated  to  enforce,  was  the  con- 
sequence of  their  extreme  rigor.  Many  circumstances 
then,  ss  subsequently,  intervened  to  mitigate  the  con- 
dition of  the  Jews;  the  necessities  of  the  state,  the 
jealousy  of  the  nobles,  the  venal  and  corrupt  disposi- 
tion of  the  clergy,  who  were  often  the  first  to  violate 
the  ordinances  which  they  themselves  had  been  instru- 
mental in  having  enacted,  were  all  enlisted,  from  time 
to  time,  in  securing  for  the  objects  of  popular  hatred 
a  temporary  and  precarious  indulgence. 

Under  the  Visigothic  domination,  as  a  rule,  the 
policy  of  the  government  was  decidedly  hostile.  The 
opulent  were,  as  is  usual  in  such  cases,  considered  the 
most  guilty ;  knd  thousands  were  seized,  despoiled,  and 
murdered  on  no  other  provocation  than  the  evidences 
of  prosperity  and  the  imprudent  and  ostentatious  ex- 
hibition of  their  wealth.  In  the  Council,  which  chose 
the  sovereign,  ecclesiastidsm  always  preponderated; 
and  through  its  influence  a  clause  was  early  inserted 
in  the  coronation  oath  which  boimd  the  king  to  suffer 
no  other  religion  but  the  Roman  Catholic  in  his  do- 
minions. Powerful  protectors,  whose  services  were 
purchased  by  the  lavish  distribution  of  bribes,  averted 
the  storm  for  the  time;  but  about  the  beginning  of 
the  seventh  century  public  opinion  declined  to  be 
longer  conciliated,  and  a  frightful  persecution  was 
begun.  An  immense  number,  amoimting,  it  is  said,  to 
ninety  thousand,  apostatized  and  publicly  received  the 
rite  of  baptism.  Multitudes,  who  preferred  banish- 
ment to  renunciation  of  their  faith,  fled  to  France, 
Italy,  and  other  countries.  Such  extreme  measures 
drove  the  suffering  Israelites  to  resistance,  but  their 
hereditary  cowardice  and  their  total  want  of  organiza- 
tion rendered  their  exertions  hopeless,  and  produced 
no  result  but  an  aggravation  of  their  misfortunes. 

While  these  events  were  transpiring  in  the  Visi- 
j?othic  kingdom,  Mohammedan  conquest  had  spread 


180  History  of  the 

from  Central  Arabia  to  the  western  extremity  of  the 
African  continent.  Before  its  irresistible  force,  the 
activity  of  the  Berber  savage  and  the  discipline  of  the 
Roman  veteran  had  alike  been  hmnbled  in  the  dust. 
The  dangerous  proximity  of  the  Moslem  outposts  at 
the  south  had  more  than  once  aroused  the  apprehen- 
sions of  the  proud  and  luxm-ious  sovereigns  of  Spain. 
But  their  efforts  had  been  directed  rather  to  the  in- 
dulgence of  their  passions  and  the  extirpation  of 
heresy  than  to  the  fortification  of  the  frontiers  of  the 
kingdom  against  the  ambition  of  an  unknown  and 
underrated  foe.  The  Jews,  however,  fully  realized 
the  gravity  of  the  situation,  and  were  only  too  willing 
to  promote  the  designs  of  an  enemy  whose  success, 
they  were  convinced,  would  enure  to  their  own  advan- 
tage and  security.  Numerous  considerations  of  pro- 
found significance  impelled  them  to  this  course.  They 
themselves  and  the  Arabs  were  derived  from  a  com- 
mon origin.  Both  sprang  from  the  same  branch  of 
the  great  human  family.  Many  of  their  customs  were 
identical ;  their  traditions  denote  a  similar  source ;  their 
languages  vary  but  little  in  construction  and  pronun- 
ciation, and  have  been  so  slightly  modified  by  the  vicis- 
situdes of  centuries  that  the  Hebrew  rabbi  and  the 
Bedouin  sheik  of  to-day  can  readily  commimicate  with 
each  other  by  means  of  their  respective  idioms.  Both 
nations  had  for  centuries  been  accustomed  to  a  pastoral 
life  on  the  vast  plains  of  Asia,  where  the  illimitable 
monotony  of  the  landscape,  the  unbroken  stillness  of 
immense  solitudes,  the  magnificent  spectacle  of  the 
unclouded  heavens  glowing  with  the  most  gorgeous 
constellations  of  the  firmament,  have  always  impressed 
upon  the  nations  subject  to  these  potent  and  omni- 
present influences  the  conviction  of  the  unity  of  God. 
The  caravans  that  issued  from  the  Desert  exchanged 
the  precious  commodities  of  that  region  for  the  wares 
manufactured  and  imported  by  the  Hebrews  of  Alex- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  181 

andria,  Damascus,  and  Antioch.  Although  in  the 
early  ages  of  Islam  the  Jews  were  often  harshly 
treated,  the  Arabs  were  quick  to  perceive  the  advan- 
tages to  be  obtained  from  their  commercial  experience 
and  literary  knowledge.  As  Hebrew  enterprise  was 
instrumental  in  opening  to  the  world  the  lucrative  and 
important  trade  of  the  Arabian  Peninsula,  so  Hebrew 
genius  disclosed  to  the  descendants  of  Ishmael  the 
capacity  of  their  own  tongue,  which  until  then  had 
found  no  permanent  mode  of  expression.  The  first 
book  which  appeared  in  the  Arabic  language  was 
written  by  Javaich,  a  Syrian  Jew.  It  was  the  trans- 
lation of  a  medical  work  by  a  famous  practitioner  of 
Alexandria,  and  the  practical  character  of  the  subject 
not  only  indicates  the  serious  nature  of  early  Hebrew 
research,  but  also  becomes  a  matter  of  curious  signifi- 
cance when  the  subsequent  interest  and  proficiency  of 
Arab  scholars  in  everything  concerning  the  scientific 
acquirements  of  that  profession  are  considered. 

The  impulse  thus  early  exerted  by  Jewish  culture 
upon  the  Arab  intellect  was  eventually  productive  of 
the  most  extraordinary  results.  The  scholars  soon 
surpassed  their  instructors  in  the  extent  and  pro- 
fundity of  their  knowledge.  The  Arab  mind  assimi- 
lated, with  wonderful  ease  and  insatiable  avidity,  the 
useful  and  valuable  information  afforded  it,  while  its 
critical  faculty  enabled  it  to  reject  what  it  intuitively 
perceived  to  be  spurious.  In  all  the  countries  subject 
to  the  Khalifates  of  Mecca  and  Damascus,  the  He- 
brew opened  to  the  Moslem  conqueror  the  avenues  of 
literature  and  science.  He  was  treated  by  the  Moham- 
medan princes  with  far  more  consideration  and  justice 
than  he  had  ever  experienced  under  Pagan  or  Chris- 
tian domination.  His  synagogues  were  erected  in  the 
shadow  of  Moslem  minarets.  His  academies  became 
famous  as  centres  of  learning.  The  works  of  Grecian 
philosophers,  the  fragmentary  treasiu'es  of  Alexan- 


182  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

drian  erudition,  were,  through  his  efforts,  made  famil- 
iar to  the  studious  of  the  great  Mohammedan  capitals. 
In  the  distribution  of  literary  patronage  the  Jews 
were  the  most  distinguished  recipients  of  royal  munifi- 
cence. In  proportion  to  the  eminence  they  attained  in 
the  province  of  letters,  their  political  power  and  finan- 
cial prosperity  increased.  They  enjoyed  the  familiar 
confidence  of  the  monarch,  when  his  favorite  coun- 
cillors dared  not  venture  without  a  summons  into  his 
presence.  They  amassed  great  fortunes  in  the  various 
branches  of  trade  and  industry.  Their  mercantile 
occupations  brought  them  frequently  in  contact  with 
their  fellow-sectaries,  who,  in  other  parts  of  the  world, 
maintained  under  the  weighty  sceptre  of  cruel  and 
bigoted  sovereigns  an  existence  fraught  with  danger 
and  hardship. 

These  facts  were  well  known  to  the  Spanish  Jews 
who  had,  amidst  the  multiplied  catastrophes  afflicting 
their  race,  survived  the  effects  of  Visigothic  t3rranny. 
Notwithstanding  the  successive  persecutions  of  which 
they  had  been  the  object,  they  were  still  numerous  in 
the  Peninsula.  The  phenomenal  vitality  of  a  people 
which,  from  time  immemorial,  has  preserved  its  integ- 
rity imder  the  most  adverse  conditions,  enabled  it  to 
defy  the  mahce  of  courts  and  the  edicts  of  councUs 
whose  office  and  pastime  was  the  pitiless  extirpation 
of  heresy.  The  Jews  floiu-ished  in  defiance  of  blood- 
thirsty laws.  In  many  ways  they  evaded  the  effects 
of  proscription.  Thousands  apostatized.  Multitudes 
secretly  piwchased  immimity  by  means  of  the  arts  of 
corruption.  Of  those  who  had  gone  into  exile,  the 
majority  quickly  returned  and  took  up  their  residence 
in  other  provinces,  where,  unknown  to  the  populace, 
and  often  with  the  venal  connivance  of  civil  officials 
and  prelates,  they  were  permitted  to  pursue  their  avo- 
cations in  comparative  security.  The  Israelitish  ele- 
ment was  so  preponderant  in  Toledo,  Lucena,  and 


1 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  188 

Granada,  at  the  time  of  the  Moorish  invasion,  that 
they  were  known  as  Jewish  cities.  This  large  popu- 
lation formed  a  separate  state,  an  imperium  in  im- 
periOj  whose  members,  exasperated  by  the  memory  of 
intolerable  suffering  and  sustained  by  the  hope  of 
retribution,  were  ready  to  embrace  the  first  oppor- 
tunity to  avenge  the  oppression  of  centuries.  Thus 
the  fatal  policy  of  the  Visigoths — ^weak,  violent,  and 
corrupt — ^had  introduced  an  organized,  powerful,  im- 
scrupulous,  and  vindictive  enemy  into  every  province 
and  dty  of  their  tottering  empire.  With  their  Afri- 
can brethren  the  Jews  of  Spain  maintained  an  inti- 
mate and  frequent  correspondence.  Numbers  of  the 
latter  had  sought  a  refuge  beyond  the  sea,  as  their 
descendants  did,  imder  similar  circumstances,  seven 
centuries  afterwards.  The  settlements  of  the  Mauri- 
tanian  coast  swarmed  with  indigenous  or  exiled  He- 
brews, attracted  thither  by  the  superior  facilities  they 
offered  to  commercial  pursuits.  All  of  these  shrewd 
and  intelligent  traders  were  perfectly  familiar  with 
the  condition  of  the  Visigothic  monarchy;  with  its 
apparent  splendor  and  actual  decay;  with  the  politi- 
cal and  social  disorganization  pervading  every  depart- 
ment of  the  state  and  every  rank  of  society;  with  the 
tyranny  of  the  King;  with  the  universal  disaffection 
of  the  nobles ;  with  the  grasping  avarice  of  the  clergy, 
whose  exactions  spared  neither  the  plenty  of  the  rich 
nor  the  starving  wretchedness  of  the  poor;  with  the 
weakness  of  the  army,  whose  soldiers,  subsisting  by 
pillage,  had  neither  weapons  to  arm  nor  oflSicers  to 
command  them;  with  the  abject  misery  of  the  people, 
wlio,  protected  by  none  and  plundered  by  all,  insecure 
in  the  pursuit  of  every  employment,  a  constant  prey 
to  licensed  brigandage,  with  no  recollection  of  the  past 
but  the  bitter  reminiscence  of  unprovoked  and  re- 
peated injury,  with  no  hope  of  the  future  save  in  the 
intervention  of  a  more  powerful,  perhaps  a  more 


184  History  of  the 

ruthless,  oppressor,  were  certain  of  tranquillity  only 
in  the  silence  and  oblivion  of  the  grave. 

The  advent  of  Moslem  supremacy,  which  promised 
a  new  and  splendid  career  to  the  down-trodden  race, 
was  welcomed  by  the  Jews  of  Africa  with  all  the 
enthusiasm  of  an  impulsive  and  excitable  people. 
Al-Maghreb  had  scarcely  been  conquered  before  the 
Moslem  generals  were  more  conversant  with  the  de- 
tails of  Visigothic  weakness  and  demoralization  than 
the  councillors  of  Roderick  himself.  The  minute  and 
secret  ramifications  of  Jewish  society  united  in  a 
common  cause  the  widely  distributed  communities  of 
Africa  and  Spain;  the  intelligence  and  resolution  of 
the  conspirators,  whose  hostility  was  increased  by  the 
bitterness  of  sectarian  hatred,  rendered  their  enterprise 
and  activity  the  more  dangerous;  and  a  propitious 
opportunity  alone  was  awaited  to  pour  upon  the  fer- 
tile and  defenceless  plains  of  the  Peninsula  the  resist- 
less torrent  of  Moslem  invasion.  That  opportunity 
soon  arrived.  The  fortress  of  Ceuta,  lost  by  treason, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Arabs ;  the  Visigothic  power, 
crushed  in  one  great  battle,  succumbed  to  the  superior 
valor  of  an  enterprising  enemy;  and  within  the  short 
period  of  fotuieen  months  the  sceptre  of  empire 
passed  from  the  feeble  hands  of  a  barbarian  dynasty 
to  the  control  of  a  foreign  race,  whose  mental  capacity 
and  intellectual  ambition,  as  yet  untried,  were  sub- 
sequently found  to  be  equal  to  the  most  exacting  de- 
mands of  a  refined  and  highly  developed  civihzation. 
In  these  events,  whose  consequences  produced  such 
radical  modifications  in  the  religious,  political,  and 
domestic  conditions  of  European  society,  Hebrew 
energy  and  craft  were  eminently  conspicuous.  One 
of  the  principal  divisions  of  Tank's  army  was  com- 
manded by  a  Jew.  During  the  invasion,  Jewish  guides 
conducted  the  Moslem  squadrons  along  the  highways 
of  an  unknown  country,  furnished  information  of  the 


MOOBISH   EmPIBE   IN   EuBOFE  185 

enemy's  movements,  disclosed  the  whereabouts  of  mili- 
tary supplies  and  hidden  wealth.  When  the  slender 
numbers  of  the  Arab  forces  would  not  admit  of  their 
diminution  for  garrison  duty,  the  Jews  volunteered 
their  services  to  defend  the  conquered  cities  and  faith- 
fully discharged  the  important  trust.  The  obligations 
thus  incurred  by  the  Moorish  invaders  to  their  allies 
were  of  the  most  important  character.  The  latter  not 
only  facilitated  an  enterprise  whose  diflSculty,  without 
their  co-operation,  would  have  been  enormously  in- 
creased, if  not  actually  rendered  impracticable,  but, 
the  country  once  subdued,  they  directed  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Arabs  to  elegant  pm-suits,  of  whose  nature 
and  value  they  had  hitherto  remained  in  ignorance. 
Moslem  civilization  in  Eiu^ope  owed  an  incalculable 
debt  of  gratitude  to  the  Jews.  They  were  its  real 
founders.  They  inculcated  a  taste  for  letters.  They 
promoted  the  investigations  of  science,  the  develop- 
ment of  industry  and  the  arts.  Their  refined  tastes 
and  intellectual  employments  aroused  a  noble  emu- 
lation in  the  minds  of  their  pupils  and  imitators,  which, 
in  turn,  reacted  upon  their  own  talents  and  aspirations. 
Hebrew  genius  and  ambition  were  no  longer  hampered 
by  the  malicious  interference  of  royal  councils  and 
ecclesiastical  synods.  The  Jewish  merchant  and  the 
Jewish  banker  pursued  their  way  to  opulence  and 
distinction,  unmolested  by  the  extortionate  demands 
of  corrupt  officials  and  tyrannical  farmers  of  the 
revenue.  Their  scholars  were  not  insensible  to  the 
advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  study  of  ancient 
learning,  and  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics  were  thor- 
oughly familiar  to  the  Spanish  Jew,  whose  com-* 
mentaries  upon  them  were  of  considerable  extent  and 
of  unquestionable  authority. 

Under  a  government  favorable  to  their  existence 
and  prosperity,  their  numbers  rapidly  increased.  The 
depopulation   resulting    from   the   conquest   of   an 


186  HiSTOKY   OF  THE 

already  impoverished  and  exhausted  territory  required 
an  extraordinary  and  immediate  remedy.  Publica- 
tion was  everywhere  made  throughout  the  Orient 
inviting  the  settlement  of  immigrants  in  Spain. 
Lands  and  houses  were  promised  to  all  who  were 
vnilling  to  change  their  domiciles  for  new  homes  in 
the  distant  and  recently  founded  Mohanmiedan  em- 
pire. In  the  multitude  that  responded  were,  it  is  said, 
fifty  thousand  Hebrew  families,  amounting  to  not  less 
than  a  quarter  of  a  million  individuals.  These,  with 
their  fellow-sectaries  already  established  in  the  Penin- 
sula, composed  a  most  important  element  of  its  popu- 
lation. Highly  favorable  social  and  domestic  condi- 
tions, among  which  must  be  considered  the  prevalent 
institution  of  polygamy,  caused  in  after  years  a  pro- 
digious multipUcation  of  the  race.  The  colonists 
brought  with  them  the  devotion  to  learning  which 
they  had  imbibed  in  the  presence  of  the  great  me- 
morials of  ancient  civilization  on  the  banks  of  the 
Nile  and  the  Euphrates,  and  many  volumes  of  native 
and  foreign  lore  which  were  destined  to  form  the 
nucleus  of  the  magnificent  libraries  of  Moorish  Spain. 
History  has  repeatedly  mentioned  the  tireless  assiduity 
with  which  the  Jews,  secure  and  tranquil  imder  the 
tolerant  administration  of  the  khalifs,  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  cultivation  of  letters.  Their  diligence 
was  only  exceeded  by  the  marvellous  proficiency  they 
attained  in  every  branch  of  usefxil  knowledge.  They 
mastered  with  ease  the  most  abstruse  and  perplexing 
mathematical  problems.  The  rabbis  were  great  lin- 
guists; there  were  few  of  them  not  thoroughly  con- 
versant with  the  numerous  idioms  of  Europe  and 
Asia.  Medicine  and  astronomy,  their  favorite  pur- 
suits, under  their  direction  soon  acquired  an  unprece- 
dented, almost  a  magical,  development. 

The  tenth,  eleventh,  and  twelfth  centuries  represent 
the  epoch  of  the  greatest  fame  and  influence  of  the 


MooEiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  187 

Spanish  Jews.  This  period,  coincident  with  the  high- 
est power  and  civilization  of  the  Hispano-Arah  em- 
pire, had,  however,  been  preceded  by  two  centuries  of 
uninterrupted  progress.  The  enlightened  policy  of 
the  Western  khalifs,  from  the  accession  of  the  Om- 
meyade  dynasty,  attracted  to  their  capital  the  learned 
of  every  country  and  of  every  profession.  Of  these 
strangers,  the  Hebrews  constituted  the  largest  pro- 
portion of  any  one  race,  excepting  the  Arabs.  The 
schools  and  academies  they  founded  vied  in  educa- 
tional opportunities  and  literary  culture  with  the  Mos- 
lem institutions  of  similar  character  whose  reputation 
was  unrivalled  in  the  world.  The  interpretations  of 
the  Scriptures  and  the  Talmud,  as  promulgated  by 
the  synagogues  of  Toledo  and  Cordova,  were  acknowl- 
edged everywhere  as  of  the  highest  and  most  binding 
authority.  A  constant  and  profitable  intercourse  was 
maintained  with  their  kinsmen  of  the  Orient,  which 
promoted  an  interchange  of  ideas,  and  was  conse- 
quently of  incalculable  advantage  to  the  mental  de- 
velopment of  both  divisions  of  the  race.  The  intel- 
lectual supremacy  of  the  Spanish  Jew  was,  however, 
rarely  disputed.  The  opportunities  he  enjoyed  in  the 
society  of  the  most  splendid  of  mediaeval  capitals;  the 
vast  stores  of  information  at  his  disposal;  the  great 
libraries  collected  by  the  khahf  s  to  which  he  had  access ; 
the  permanent  distinction  which  awaited  successful 
competition  in  the  pubUc  contests  for  literary  prece- 
dence; the  favor  of  the  sovereign,  often  himself  a 
scholar  of  great  erudition  and  varied  accompUshments, 
always  a  liberal  patron  of  science  and  the  arts;  the 
applause  of  the  multitude;  the  substantial  pecuniary 
benefits  which  promised  a  life  of  ease  and  opulence  to 
all  whose  abihties  were  sufiiciently  eminent  to  merit 
public  recognition  and  recompense ;  with  these  mani- 
fold privileges  and  incentives  it  is  not  singular  that 
Hebrew  genius  obtained  and  preserved  an  exalted 


I 

i 


188  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

rank  in  the  literary  society  of  the  age.  Encouraged 
by  the  influence  which  they  wielded,  and  presuming 
upon  the  favor  of  a  liberal  and  indulgent  sovereign, 
the  Jews  of  the  Moorish  empire  formed  an  organiza- 
tion modelled  after  the  institutions  of  their  ancestors 
which  could  scarcely  have  been  tolerated  under  a  severe 
and  jealous  despotism.  They  elected  as  their  king  a 
prince  of  the  house  of  Judah,  who,  while  not  openly 
invested  with  the  insignia  of  royalty,  received  the 
homage  and  the  tribute  of  his  subjects.  Under  this 
potentate  judges  and  priests  were  chosen,  who  exer- 
cised the  f imctions  performed  centviries  before  in  the 
days  of  the  independence  and  renown  of  the  Hebrew 
nation.  The  Moors  countenanced,  and  even  approved 
of,  the  establishment  of  this  anomalous  system.  Its 
oflicials,  despite  their  grandiloquent  titles,  were  strictly 
subordinated  to  the  authority  of  the  khalif  ate.  They 
were  suffered,  however,  to  administer  the  affairs  of 
those  who  acknowledged  their  jurisdiction;  their  de- 
cisions in  theological  matters  limited  to  their  f  aiih 
were  imquestioned;  and  they  were  intrusted  with  the 
collection  of  taxes,  whose  amount  and  apportionment 
had  been  previously  determined  by  the  regular  officers 
of  the  imperial  treasury. 

The  eminently  practical  character  of  the  Jewish 
mind  did  not  confine  itself  to  speculations  upon  the 
traditions  of  the  Talmud  or  disquisitions  concerning 
abstruse  points  of  philosophy.  The  Hebrew  sages 
embraced  with  the  greatest  ardor  the  fascinating  pur- 
suits of  mechanical  invention  and  scientific  discovery. 
In  medicine  and  surgery  they  particularly  excelled. 
They  wrote  treatises  on  the  application  of  hydraulics 
and  the  comparative  merits  of  various  systems  of  irri- 
gation. They  thoroughly  understood  the  principles 
of  horticulture.  The  excellence  of  the  manufactures 
for  which  the  Khalif  ate  of  Cordova  was  famous  was, 
to  a  considerable  extent,  indebted  to  Jewish  talents 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  189 

and  industry.  In  many  instances  the  nationality  of 
Hebrew  scholars  was  obscured  through  the  similarity 
of  their  names  and  occupations  to  those  of  their  dis- 
tinguished associates  in  the  great  Moslem  centres  of 
learning.  Many  Jewish  doctors  received  Arab  appel- 
lations and  wrote  almost  exclusively  in  the  Arabic 
language.  Among  these  was  Ibn-Zohr,  who,  for  these 
reasons,  has  been  generally  considered  a  Mohamme- 
dan, but  whose  parentage,  religion,  associations,  and 
education  were  entirely  Hebrew. 

The  tenth  century  witnessed  the  culmination  of 
Jewish  greatness  in  Europe.  In  its  rapid  advance- 
ment, it  had  kept  pace  with  the  ever-progressive  march 
of  Moslem  power  and  culture.  Wherever  the  Sara- 
cens established  themselves,  the  Jewish  population  in- 
creased. The  harmonious  co-operation  of  the  two 
races — one  of  which,  while  nominally  tributary  to  and 
dependent  upon  the  other,  was  in  reality  upon  a  foot- 
ing of  friendly  intimacy  with  its  acknowledged  supe- 
rior— proved  of  immense  advantage  to  both,  in  the 
promotion  of  every  measure  which  could  enure  to  the 
substantial  benefit  of  humanity.  In  the  consideration 
which  they  enjoyed,  and  in  the  prosperity  and  dis- 
tinction which  were  the  reward  of  inteUigent  and  use- 
ful effort,  the  Jews  lost  the  memory  of  the  calamities 
which  had  been  their  lot  for  so  many  centuries.  In 
common  with  all  peoples  who  have  attained  the  highest 
civilization,  they  abandoned  themselves  to  luxury. 
The  men  were  clothed  in  the  richest  of  silken  fabrics. 
The  jewels  of  the  women  equalled  in  brilliancy  and 
value  the  choicest  treasures  of  the  imperial  harems. 
The  great  Hebrew  fimctionaries  of  state,  who  pos- 
sessed the  confidence  of  the  sovereign,  appeared  in 
public,  guarded  by  retinues  of  armed  and  magnifi- 
cently attired  eunuchs.  Their  mansions  exhibited  all 
the  luxurious  appointments  of  the  fastidious  sybarite. 
The  Rabbi  Hasdai-ben-Schaprut  was  one  of  the  prin- 


140  History  of  the 

cipal  ministers  of  Abd-al-Rahman  III.  Al-Hakem 
II.  enlisted  the  services  of  Jewish  ambassadors  in 
important  embassies.  Hischem  II.  ordered  a  transla- 
tion of  the  Talmud  to  be  made  into  Arabic,  and  caused 
its  literature  to  be  introduced  as  a  branch  of  study  in 
the  Moslem  colleges.  The  educated  Moors  treated 
with  the  greatest  honor  and  respect  the  princes  and 
officials  of  the  hierarchy  chosen  by  the  assemblies  of 
the  Synagogue.  The  beginning  of  the  tenth  century 
witnessed  the  destruction  of  the  renowned  academies 
of  Persia,  whose  members,  by  the  promulgation  of 
liberal  doctrines,  had  rendered  themselves  obnoxious 
to  Oriental  despotism.  Their  societies  dissolved,  these 
learned  men  were  forced  to  seek  security  in  exile. 
Some  of  the  most  famous,  including  the  Rabbi  Moses, 
of  the  Academy  of  Pumbedita,  were  taken  by  African 
corsairs  and  exposed  for  sale  in  the  slave-market  of 
Cordova.  Such  was  the  eminent  reputation  of  this 
doctor,  that,  as  soon  as  his  identity  was  disclosed,  he 
was  unanimously  elected  prince  of  the  Hispano-He- 
brew  nation. 

These  Oriental  scholars  were  not  the  only  exiles  who 
enriched  the  universities  of  Spain  with  their  accumu- 
lated stores  of  wisdom.  From  every  country  where 
the  hand  of  persecution  was  raised  against  the  Jew 
refugees  flocked  by  thousands  into  the  Peninsula,  until 
the  Ommeyade  khalif  included  among  his  subjects  a 
larger  proportion  of  the  people  of  this  race  than  any 
other  sovereign  of  the  age.  The  list  of  rabbis  who 
iUimiinated  with  their  genius  and  learning  the  reign 
of  the  Cordovan  princes  is  both  instructive  and  inter- 
esting, especially  when  we  consider  the  benighted  con- 
dition of  contemporaneous  Europe.  In  France,  dur- 
ing the  ninth  centiuy,  a  Christian  bishop  declared  the 
rabbis  preached  better  than  the  priests. 

The  active  minds  of  these  gifted  scholars  enabled 
them  to  master  at  the  same  time  the  most  complicated 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueofe  141 

problems  of  widely  different  branches  of  scientific 
knowledge.  The  difficulty  and  novelty  of  the  subject 
were  always  the  strongest  incentives  to  their  industry. 
The  study  of  jurisprudence  enjoined  by  their  law,  as 
a  religious  duty,  was  always  entered  upon  in  the  be- 
ginning of  their  literary  career,  no  matter  to  what  pro- 
fessions they  were  subsequently  to  be  devoted.  Rabbi 
Hasdai-ben-Schaprut  wrote  a  commentary  on  the  bo- 
tanical treatise  of  Dioscorides,  of  which  he  had  made 
an  Arabic  version;  Rabbi  Judah,  who  lived  under 
Abd-al-Rahman  III.,  was  renowned  for  his  acquaint- 
ance with  both  Hebrew  and  Arabic  literature;  Joseph 
translated  the  Talmud  for  Hischem  II. ;  Manasseh- 
ben-Baruch  compiled  a  critical  lexicon,  a  colossal 
monument  of  patience  and  erudition.  To  Isaac-ben- 
Chanan  is  ascribed  the  rendering  into  classic  Hebrew 
of  the  complete  works  of  Aristotle.  Isaac  Alphes 
codified  the  laws  of  the  Talmud;  Samuel-ben-Alarif, 
the  minister  of  Habus,  King  of  Granada,  renowned 
alike  as  statesman,  astronomer,  and  poet,  composed  a 
panegyric  of  his  sovereign  in  seven  languages.  Moses- 
ben-Ezra  wrote  poems  which  disclose  instructive  scenes 
of  mediseval  life  and  manners ;  the  grammatical  works 
of  Judas-ben-David  were  recognized  as  -authoritative 
wherever  the  Hebrew  tongue  was  spoken;  Isaac-ben- 
Baruch  was  one  of  the  most  learned  and  accomplished 
mathematicians  of  his  time.  In  addition  to  these 
names,  famous  in  the  history  of  letters,  the  Hebrew 
community  of  Spain  included  poets  like  Judas  Levi, 
whose  works,  translated  into  Arabic  and  Latin^  ob- 
tained a  wide  and  deserved  popularity;  astronomers 
like  Ben-Chia;  geographers  like  Isaac  Latef ;  physi- 
cians like  Charizi;  travellers  like  Benjamin  of  Tudela, 
whose  writings  may  still  be  perused  with  pleasure  and 
advantage;  natural  philosophers  like  Solomon-ben- 
Gabirol,  who  had  the  rare  faculty  of  clothing  scientific 
conceptions  in  poetical  language;  universal  geniuses 


1 

1 


142  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

like  Moses-ben-Maimon  and  Ben-Ezra,  whose  talents 
illustrated  and  embellished  every  subject  within  the 
realm  of  human  knowledge.  Not  less  noted  were  the 
Jewish  physicians,  who  did  not,  however,  exist  as  a 
distinctive  profession,  their  commanding  abilities 
being  also  displayed  in  other  departments  of  litera- 
ture and  science. 

Most  prominent  among  the  names  which  immortal- 
ize the  golden  age  of  Hebrew  erudition  is  that  of 
Moses-ben-Maimon,  popularly  known  as  Maimonides. 
A  native  of  Cordova,  and  sprung  from  a  family  which 
had  furnished  many  learned  and  distinguished  mem- 
bers of  the  Jewish  hierarchy,  he  enjoyed  from  his 
earliest  youth  the  unrivalled  educational  advantages 
of  the  great  Moslem  capital.  His  mind  was  formed 
and  his  tastes  developed  under  the  most  able  in- 
structors of  the  University  of  Cordova,  and  it  has 
even  been  stated,  upon  disputed  authority,  however, 
that  he  was  the  pupil  and  friend  of  the  famous  phi- 
losopher Averroes.  The  profession  of  medicine  which 
he  adopted,  and  in  which  he  afterwards  so  greatly  ex- 
celled, he  regarded  rather  as  an  instrument  with  which 
to  observe  the  secret  characteristics  and  incentives  of 
human  natiu?e  than  as  a  means  of  livelihood.  At  the 
age  of  thirty,  his  reputation  for  prodigious  erudition 
had  spread  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Moslem  em- 
pire of  the  West.  The  fanatical  policy  of  Abd-al- 
Mumen,  founder  of  the  Almohade  dynasty,  demanded 
the  conversion  of  the  Jews;  thousands,  imder  the  fear 
of  death,  renounced  their  religion,  and  among  them 
was  Maimonides,  whose  resolution  was  not  proof 
against  the  prospective  sufferings  of  martyrdom. 
Escaping  soon  after  to  Egypt,  where  his  renown  had 
preceded  his  arrival,  he  became  the  friend  and  adviser 
of  the  Sultan.  It  is  said  that  whenever  he  left  his 
house  he  was  compelled  to  pass  through  lines  of 
people,  some  of  whom  desired  his  opinion  on  meta- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  148 

physical  questions,  and  others,  who  were  aflKcted  with 
various  aihnents,  that  sought  the  aid  of  his  medical 
knowledge.  Such  was  his  devotion  to  his  profession, 
that  in  the  care  of  his  patients  he  deprived  himself  of 
sleep,  and  many  times  fainted  from  sheer  exhaustion. 
In  the  midst  of  his  arduous  duties  he  found  time  for 
the  composition  of  many  voluminous  treatises, — on 
biblical  and  rabbinical  hterature ;  on  the  action  of 
remedies;  on  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  man  as 
inculcated  by  the  higher  philosophy.  His  principal 
work,  More-Hanebushim,  "  The  Guide  of  Lost 
Spirits,"  is  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  Hebrew 
literature.  The  learning  it  displays,  the  profound 
knowledge  of  mankind  it  reveals,  the  originality  of 
its  conceptions,  the  ingenuity  and  logical  force  of  the 
argument,  the  sublime  moral  maxims  it  inculcates, 
and  the  elegance  and  beauty  of  the  style,  owing  little 
to  the  native  harshness  of  the  idiom  in  which  it  is 
written,  stamp  it  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  pro- 
ductions of  the  human  mind.  The  genius  of  this 
great  writer  regarded  as  diversions  undertakings 
which  would  have  appeared  formidable  tasks  to  men 
of  inferior  capacity.  His  medical  works,  fourteen 
in  nimoiber,  and  especially  his  learned  commentary  on 
Hippocrates,  were  long  the  guide  of  the  profession, 
and  to  this  day  many  of  his  precepts  for  the  treatment 
of  disease  are  employed  by  the  intelligent  practitioner. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  to  recognize  that  mental  de- 
rangement is  often  the  result  of  physical  indisposition. 
Maimonides  was  more  familiar  with  the  doctrines  of 
Christian  theology  than  the  majority  of  the  prelates 
whose  duty  it  was  to  inculcate  them.  His  understand- 
ing rejected  with  contempt  the  alluring  and  prevalent 
delusions  of  the  age,  wluch  too  frequently  contami- 
nated the  wisdom  of  the  scholar  with  the  mummeries 
of  the  impostor.  His  condemnation  of  judicial  astrol- 
ogy, in  which  he  exposed  by  irrefutable  arguments  the 


144  HiSTOEY  OP  THE 

absurdities  and  dangers  of  that  puerile  but  fascinating 
science,  was  adopted  and  promulgated  as  authoritative 
by  both  Popes  Sixtus  V.  and  Urban  VIII.  While  he 
criticised  with  uncompromising  severity  the  faults  of 
his  sect  and  the  weabtiess  and  inconsistency  of  many 
of  its  traditions,  Maimonides  never  intentionally 
swerved  from  the  path  of  orthodox  Judaism.  His 
surroundings  and  associations  were,  however,  on  the 
whole  not  favorable  to  the  maintenance  of  archaic 
theological  systems.  The  intellectual  society  of  Cor- 
dova was  deeply  infected  with  infidelity.  The  in- 
structors of  youth,  the  professors  of  the  University, 
were  disciples  of  Averroes.  Religious  commentary 
had  long  been  supplanted  by  philosophical  skepticism. 
Even  the  populace,  always  the  last  to  abandon  the 
obsolete  opinions  of  theological  infancy,  were  imbued 
with  the  same  iconoclastic  ideas.  The  sublime  concep- 
tions of  India,  the  doctrine  of  Emanation  and  Ab- 
sorption, had  been  largely  adopted  by  the  educated 
communities  of  Moorish  Spain.  The  exposure  of  the 
Hebrew  dogmas  to  the  mocking  and  sarcastic  raillery 
of  his  learned  companions  produced  no  effect  upon 
the  faith  of  Maimonides.  His  principles  were  too 
firmly  grounded  to  be  shaken  by  the  jeers  of  polished 
atheism.  While  his  progressive  ideas  caused  him  to 
be  for  a  time  regarded  with  suspicion  by  the  stricter 
of  the  Hebrews,  they  eventually  contended  with  each 
other  in  paying  tribute  to  his  lofty  genius,  and  in 
their  extravagant  admiration  styled  him  "  The  Eagle 
of  Jewish  Literature,"  "  The  Guide  of  the  Rabbis," 
"  The  Light  of  the  Occident."  The  liberal  character 
of  his  doctrines  may  be  inferred  from  the  following 
passage  taken  from  the  preface  to  his  works:  "  The 
end  of  religion  is  to  conduct  us  to  perfection,  and  to 
teach  us  to  act  and  think  in  conformity  with  reason. 
In  this  consists  the  distinctive  attribute  of  human 
nature." 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  145 

Maiinonides  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  person- 
ages of  his  time.  No  writer  of  his  nationality  ever 
attained  to  such  an  exalted  rank,  even  among  those 
who  dissented  from  his  opinions.  The  kindness  of  his 
disposition  was  not  less  remarkable  than  the  extent 
of  his  intellectual  acquirements.  Although  a  bom 
polemic  and  controversialist,  he  never  voluntarily 
wounded  the  feelings  of  an  adversary.  The  object 
of  his  investigations  was  invariably  the  discovery  of 
truth.  His  learning,  his  critical  acumen,  his  quick- 
ness of  perception,  his  accuracy  of  judgment,  his 
talent  for  argument,  were  imrivalled.  His  system 
aimed  at  the  reconciliation  of  revealed  maxims  and 
scientific  deductions;  at  the  co-ordination  of  Biblical 
and  Talmudical  ideas  with  the  principles  of  ancient 
wisdom  and  contemporaneous  philosophy.  Such  a 
task  was  beyond  even  his  great  abilities.  The  studies 
of  the  infidel  schools  of  Spain  had,  imconsciotisly  to 
himself,  afi^ected  his  religious  belief.  The  instruc- 
tions of  Averroes  were  not  conducive  to  the  exist- 
ence of  rigid  Judaism.  Maimonides  was,  in  fact,  a 
pantheist.  Throughout  his  writings,  despite  their 
mysticism,  the  doctrine  of  Emanation  is  everywhere 
prominent.  He  refers  to  successive  spheres  bom  of 
Divine  thought.  He  considers  the  absorption  of  the 
souls  of  the  good  into  the  Divine  Essence.  While 
admitting  the  indestructibility  of  force,  he  rejects  the 
idea  of  the  eternity  of  matter.  With  him,  as  with  the 
majority  of  scholars  who  had  been  educated  imder 
Arabic  auspices,  the  authority  of  Aristotle  w&s  para- 
moimt.  His  works,  while  professedly  written  to  eluci- 
date and  confirm  the  Talmud,  really  undermined  it. 
His  Mischne  Thora  and  Commentary  on  the  Mischna 
are  prodigies  of  dialectical  skill  and  varied  erudition. 
In  the  first  of  these,  a  religious  code,  ten  years  of 
constant  labor  were  expended. 

The  life  of  Maimonides  was  an  eventful  period  in 

Vol.  III.— 10 


146  History  of  the 

the  history  of  his  race.  Then  it  reached  the  highest 
point  of  intellectual  distinction,  but  among  its  sages 
none  ranked  with  the  distinguished  rabbi.  In  addition 
to  his  vast  stores  of  universal  knowledge,  he  had 
profited  by  the  practical  benefits  of  travel.  He  had 
visited  Fez,  Montpellier,  Cairo,  Bagdad,  Jerusalem. 
He  was  the  court  physician  of  Saladin.  He  refused 
a  similar  employment  tendered  by  Richard  I.,  King 
of  England.  He  was  raised  to  the  important  office 
of  Chief  Rabbi  of  all  the  Hebrew  communities  of 
Egypt.  From  the  East  and  West,  his  countrymen 
sought  his  opinion  on  abstruse  questions  of  religion 
and  philosophical  doctrine,  and  accepted  his  answers 
as  infallible.  His  influence  was  by  no  means  confined 
to  members  of  his  own  sect.  His  works,  translated 
into  Latin,  were  diligently  studied  by  Christian  po- 
lemics, and  furnished  arguments  to  successive  genera- 
tions of  schoolmen.  Diffused  throughout  the  South 
of  France,  their  rationalist  opinions  played  no  small 
part  in  the  promotion  of  the  Albigensian  heresy. 

But  whUe  the  intellectual  supremacy  of  Maimo- 
nides  placed  him  far  in  advance  of  his  contemporaries, 
he  was  by  no  means  the  only  distinguished  scholar  of 
his  epoch.  Ben-Ezra,  equally  proficient  in  the  depart- 
ments of  medicine,  literature,  and  astronomy,  enjoyed 
a  reputation  second  only  to  that  of  the  Greatest  of 
the  Hebrews.  His  inquisitive  mind,  stimulated  by 
years  of  assiduous  application,  sought  in  the  scenes 
of  foreign  lands  the  valuable  experience  and  intimate 
acquaintance  with  human  life  which  are  not  to  be  ob- 
tained by  the  perusal  of  books  alone.  The  remarkable 
abilities  of  Ben-Ezra  were  exercised  alike  in  the  solu- 
tion of  mathematical  problems  and  in  the  composi- 
tion of  sacred  poems.  In  his  knowledge  of  astron- 
omy, he  surpassed  the  most  accurate  observers  of  an 
age  especialy  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  the  grand- 
est and  most  fascinating  of  sciences.    In  his  moments 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  147 

of  mental  relaxation  he  embodied  in  verse  the  rules  of 
the  game  of  chess;  and  the  preface  to  this  poem,  in 
which  the  reader  is  warned  against  the  evils  of  cards 
and  dice,  proves  conclusively  that  gaming  implements 
supposed  to  have  been  invented  hundreds  of  years 
afterwards  were  familiar  to  the  Spanish  Jews  and 
Moors  in  the  early  part  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

Not  imworthy  rivals  of  Ben-Ezra  in  the  contest  for 
literary  precedence  were  Nachmanides,  who  at  the  age 
of  sixteen  was  the  honored  associate  of  the  most 
learned  of  the  Jewish  nation,  and  whose  precocious 
maturity  acquired  for  him  in  early  manhood  the  title 
of  Abu-Harushma,  "  The  Father  of  Wisdom;"  Jo- 
seph Hadain,  whose  charming  verses  were  the  delight 
of  the  people  of  Cordova;  Solomon-ben-Gabirol,  and 
Abraham-ben-David-Halevi,  distinguished  philoso- 
phers, in  whose  writings  were  illustrated  the  principles 
of  theological  reform  and  independent  criticism  de- 
manded by  the  bold  and  progressive  spirit  of  the  age. 
Among  the  Jews  of  Spain  were  also  many  original 
poets,  fabulists,  and  writers  of  romance.  Such  were 
the  most  eminent  scholars  whose  attainments  reflected 
honor  on  the  Hebrew  name,  under  the  beneficent  rule 
of  the  Moslem  princes  of  the  West,  an  era  coincident 
with  the  darkest  period  of  European  history.  Be- 
sides these  there  were  others  in  every  community, 
some  of  rabbinical  rank,  some  of  humble  station,  with 
talents  that  elsewhere  would  have  raised  them  far 
above  mediocrity,  but  who  were  obsciu'ed  and  over- 
whelmed in  the  dazzling  glare  of  literary  excellence. 
The  commercial  prosperity  of  the  Jews;  the  univer- 
sality of  education,  whose  institutions  afforded  facili- 
ties nowhere  else  attainable  in  the  world;  the  natu- 
rally inquisitive  bent  of  the  Hebrew  mind,  whose 
acuteness  seemed  capable  of  solving  questions  when 
all  others  had  failed,  and  whose  versatility  was  equal 
to  the  most  varied  and  arduous  undertakings;    the 


148  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

superhuman  industry  which  shrank  from  no  task, 
however  difficult;  the  consideration  with  which  they 
were  treated  by  sovereign  and  plebeian  alike,  gave  full 
scope  to  the  capabilities  of  a  race  of  men  who  never 
previously,  even  in  the  days  of  Judea*s  splendor,  had 
been  afforded  such  opportunities  for  development 
The  generous  emulation  provoked  by  the  inteUectual 
efforts  of  their  Saracen  rivals  was  exerted  by  the  Jews 
in  every  branch  of  learning  and  every  department  of 
scientific  research.  Through  the  literary  productions 
of  these  two  nations  alone  was  the  way  of  knowledge 
accessible.  A  thorough  acquaintance  with  Arabic  and 
Hebrew  was  indispensable  to  the  ambitious  student. 
Latin,  whose  corrupted  idiom  was  the  language  of  the 
Church,  was  the  vehicle  of  priestly  intercourse,  and 
the  medium  through  which  were  transmitted  Papal 
decrees  and  ecclesiastical  tradition.  The  ancient 
classics  of  Greece  and  Rome  were  practically  un- 
known outside  the  Peninsula;  and  there  is  good 
reason  to  believe  that  a  majority  of  the  famous  prel- 
ates of  the  time  were  ignorant  that  they  had  ever 
existed.  The  accurate  retranslations  of  these  works 
into  Latin  from  the  Arabic,  into  which  they  had  been 
originally  transcribed,  first  revealed  their  merits  to 
Western  Europe,  and  paved  the  way  to  the  revival 
of  learning.  The  impulse  imparted  by  this  means  to 
literary  curiosity  and  investigation  found  its  culmina- 
tion in  the  epoch  which  produced  Aretino,  Petrarch, 
Boccaccio,  and  Dante.  The  Italian  Renaissance,  the 
dawn  of  modern  European  intelligence  and  progress, 
received  its  inspiration  from  the  civilizing  influences 
and  cultivated  tastes  brought  to  extraordinary  perfec- 
tion in  the  great  cities  of  Southern  Spain. 

The  dissolution  of  the  Moslem  empire,  its  subse- 
quent division  and  gradual  conquest,  naturally 
effected  great  changes  in  the  political  relations  and 
ultimate  destiny  of  the  Hebrew  race.     Under  the 


Moorish  Empire  in  Eueope  149 

petty  kings  who  administered  with  various  fortune 
the  shattered  fragments  of  the  magnificent  inheri- 
tance bequeathed  by  the  Ommeyade  khalif  s,  the  con- 
dition of  the  Jews  changed  with  the  caprices  and  the 
passions  of  each  new  tjnrannical  potentate.  For  the 
most  part,  however,  they  received  indulgent  and  often 
flattering  treatment.  The  Mohammedan  sovereigns 
recognized  the  value  of  such  subjects;  there  were 
many  whose  political  sagacity  was  not  obscured  by 
prejudice,  and  who  still  observed  the  tolerant  precepts 
of  Islam.  At  Granada  the  Jews  had  always  been 
popular;  there  is  a  tradition  that  the  capital  of  the 
kingdom  was  founded  by  them.  In  the  fourteenth 
century,  there  were  fifteen  thousand  Hebrew  families 
resident  in  that  dty.  While  the  rest  of  the  Peninsula 
was  convulsed  with  revolution  and  disorder,  and  their 
kinsmen  were  being  everywhere  persecuted  and  robbed 
by  Papal  inquisitor  and  Christian  king,  the  Jews  of 
Granada  pursued  their  occupations  in  peace,  under 
the  protection  of  the  Zirite  and  Alhamar  dynasties, 
until  the  final  success  of  the  Spanish  arms  involved 
their  nation  in  irretrievable  ruin. 

The  Jews  were  the  principal  medium  through  which 
Moorish  civilization  was  permanently  impressed  upon 
Europe.  Their  peculiar  characteristics;  their  vitality 
amidst  the  most  dreadful  misfortunes;  the  intimate 
relationship  maintained  by  their  communities,  where 
distance  and  territorial  isolation  seemed  matters  of 
little  importance,  and  their  wide  distribution  were 
most  important  factors  in  the  maintenance  and  dis- 
semination of  knowledge.  The  Jew  travelled  with 
safety  in  lands  where  a  price  was  set  upon  his  head; 
outside  of  Moslem  jurisdiction,  even  among  strangers 
unfamiliar  with  his  story  and  his  creed,  the  Saracen 
was  an  outcast.  The  requirements  of  royal  and  eccle- 
siastical incompetency  contributed  to  the  preservation 
of  that  learning  which  ignorance  and  fear  constantly 


160  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

incited  to  destroy.  As  the  Peninsula  yielded  by  de- 
grees to  the  steady  encroachments  of  Christian  power, 
the  superior  abilities  of  the  Jews  proved  a  potent  safe- 
guard against  oppression.  In  spite  of  the  furious 
protests  of  fanatics,  they  exercised  the  most  impor- 
tant public  employments.  Kings  of  irreproachable 
orthodoxy  habitually  availed  themselves  of  their 
imrivalled  medical  attainments.  The  physicians  of 
Alfonso  X.,  Pedro  el  Cruel,  Henry  III.,  Juan  II.  of 
Castile,  of  Jaime  I.  of  Aragon,  of  Duarte  and  Juan 
I.  of  Portugal,  were  all  members  of  the  detested 
sect.  Their  tact  and  discernment  caused  their  services 
to  be  enlisted  in  the  settlement  of  perplexing  ques- 
tions of  diplomacy.  The  early  times  of  the  Recon- 
quest  were  far  from  exhibiting  ihe  vindictive  and 
intolerant  spirit  which  marked  its  termination.  The 
Hebrew  colony  at  Toledo  numbered  twelve  thousand 
souls.  Its  academy  stood  first  in  rank  among  similar 
institutions  in  Europe.  A  vast  simoi  was  annually  paid 
by  this  tributary  population  into  the  royal  treasury 
of  Castile. 

The  king,  the  noble,  and  the  scholar  treated  the 
Jew  with  favor,  often  with  the  highest  consideration. 
The  clergy  and  the  mob  were  ever  his  bitterest  enemies. 
His  extraordinary  influence  was  daily  manifested  in 
defiance  of  savage  laws  which  public  sentiment  en- 
acted and  applauded,  but  was  unable  to  enforce.  The 
hated  sectary,  proscribed  by  both  the  ecclesiastical  and 
civil  powers,  pursued  his  way,  indifi^erent  to  the  edicts 
of  either  the  altar  or  the  throne.  He  dictated  the 
policy  of  the  government.  He  made  treaties  with 
foreign  nations.  He  flaunted  his  wealth  in  the  faces 
of  the  rabble.  With  strange  inconsistency,  members 
of  the  priesthood  sold  him  Christian  serfs,  whom  their 
own  decrees  declared  it  was  illegal  for  him  to  own. 
They  pledged  with  him  the  consecrated  vessels  of  their 
calling  for  money  with  which  to  indulge  in  forbidden 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  151 

pleasures.  His  opulence  was  his  most  serious  offence. 
In  the  thirteenth  century,  one-third  of  the  entire  real- 
property  of  Castile  was  in  the  possession  or  under  the 
control  of  the  Hebrews.  At  the  death  of  Pedro  II. 
of  Aragon,  they  had  acquired  possession  of  all  the 
demesnes  of  the  crown,  by  the  purchase  of  claims 
against  the  state.  At  one  time  they  owned  nearly  all 
the  city  of  Paris.  Their  pomp  and  insolence  aroused 
the  envy  and  hatred  of  the  nobles,  many  of  whom 
were  virtually  their  prisoners  for  default  in  the  pay- 
ment of  debts.  During  the  reign  of  Pedro  el  Cruel, 
Joseph-ben-Ephraim,  the  royal  tax-gatherer,  rode  in 
a  magnificent  coach,  guarded  by  a  retinue  of  fifty 
armed  attendants.  His  clerks  were  the  sons  of  Span- 
ish grandees.  It  was  long  a  popular  saying  in  Europe 
that  "  The  Castilians  had  the  pride  and  the  devotion, 
the  Jews  the  talents  and  the  money." 

The  Spanish  cavaliers  who  had  experienced  the 
prowess  and  courtesy  of  their  Moorish  adversaries, 
as  a  rule,  cherished  no  bitterness  against  the  Jews. 
Those  who,  in  the  course  of  events,  were  absorbed 
with  the  territory  of  the  growing  kingdom,  often 
elicited  admiration  and  respect  by  reason  of  their 
commanding  talents  and  erudition.  The  political  ad- 
ministration of  Castile  and  Leon,  under  Alfonso 
VIII.,  was  committed  to  a  Jew;  and  his  physician, 
who  was  of  the  same  race  and  enjoyed  the  royal 
confidence,  was  chosen  by  the  nobles  as  an  intermedi- 
ary between  themselves  and  their  sovereign  in  a  trans- 
action which  required  the  exercise  of  the  greatest 
ability  and  discretion.  A  beautiful  Jewess  was  for 
many  years  the  mistress  of  Alfonso  IX.,  over  whom 
her  empire,  while  unbounded,  was  never  abused;  until 
at  last  the  clergy,  scandalized  rather  by  the  nationality 
of  the  favorite  than  by  the  gravity  of  the  sin,  caused 
her  to  be  sacrificed  to  public  resentment.  It  requires 
but  a  glance  at  the  writings  of  the  few  mediceval 


152  HlSTOEY   OF  THE 

refonners  to  infer  how  much  consistency  there  was 
in  this  simulated  indignation.  The  works  of  these 
alone  are  sufficient  to  establish  the  existence  of  imi- 
versal  sacerdotal  depravity  among  those  censors  of 
public  morals  whose  scruples  were  excited  by  the  in- 
fluence ascribed  to  the  charms  of  a  lovely  infidel. 
Under  Alfonso  el  Sabio,  the  Jews  received  greater 
consideration  than  under  any  other  Christian  monarch 
of  Spain.  The  famous  Alphonsine  Tables,  drawn  up 
under  the  direction  of  Hebrew  astronomers,  were  the 
most  memorable  scientific  achievement  of  the  epoch. 
Their  cost,  which  exceeded  the  enormous  sum  of  f  our 
himdred  thousand  ducats,  is  indicative  not  only  of  the 
interest  of  that  prince  in  undertakings  whose  impor- 
tance was  neither  understood  nor  appreciated  else- 
where, but  of  the  value  attached  to  the  services  of 
great  scholars,  whose  knowledge  had  been  imparted 
by  a  civilization  which  their  royal  patron  considered  it 
his  political  and  religious  duty  to  eradicate. 

The  indulgent  policy  of  Don  Pedro  el  Cruel  to- 
wards his  Hebrew  subjects  was  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable peculiarities  of  his  sanguinary  reign.  His 
financiers  and  his  confidential  advisers  were  members 
of  that  proscribed  race.  The  treasurer  of  the  mon- 
archy, Samuel  Levi,  whose  position  and  favor  enabled 
him  to  amass  a  princely  fortune,  is  remembered  by 
Jewish  tradition  as  one  of  the  great  benefactors  of 
humanity.  The  extraordinary  power  he  wielded;  the 
splendor  of  his  retinue;  the  sumptuous  appointments 
of  his  palace;  his  patronage  of  letters;  the  prodigal 
generosity  he  displayed  in  the  relief  of  the  unfortu- 
nate and  the  deserving  of  every  nationahty,  have 
exalted,  perhaps  exaggerated,  his  merits  in  the  mem- 
ory of  his  countrjrmen.  His  greatest  claim  to  distinc- 
tion, however,  consists  in  the  erection,  at  his  own  ex- 
pense, of  a  superb  synagogue  at  Toledo.  This  edifice, 
unique  of  its  kind,  was  built  by  the  most  skilful  Moor- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  168 

ish  artificers  of  Granada,  and  its  decorations  sug- 
gested  the  most  finished  and  elegant  models  of  Arab 
art  Its  walls  were  embellished  with  miniature  horse- 
shoe and  stalactitic  arches,  whose  openings  were  re- 
lieved by  polygonal  ornaments  and  golden  stars. 
Belts  of  foliage  alternating  with  appropriate  inscrip- 
tions composed  the  frieze;  and  the  ceiling,  which  was 
of  the  incorruptible  cedar  of  Lebanon,  resembled,  in 
the  maze  of  its  geometrical  designs,  the  artesonados 
of  the  Alhambra.  In  common  with  the  other  prin- 
cipal synagogues  of  Toledo,  the  earth  upon  which 
the  pavement  was  laid  was  said  to  have  been  brought 
from  Mount  Sion,  a  tradition  which  enhanced  their 
sanctity  in  the  eyes  of  the  worshipper. 

Many  converted  Hebrews,  as  tihe  reward  of  their 
apostasy,  were  raised  to  the  most  exalted  dvil  and 
episcopal  dignities;  imusual  literary  accomplishments 
in  a  Spanish  prelate  during  the  Middle  Ages  were 
almost  infallible  indications  that  his  information  had 
been  derived  from  infidel  sources;  and  Catholic  piety 
recognized  no  more  ardent  defenders  of  the  dogmas 
of  the  Church  than  the  converted  Jews,  Paul,  Bishop 
of  Burgos  and  Grand  Chancellor  of  Castile,  and 
Alfonso  de  Spina,  Rector  of  the  University  of  Sala- 
manca. The  celebrated  Bible  produced  at  Alcala  de 
Henares  through  the  munificence  of  Cardinal  Xime- 
nes,  at  a  cost  of  fifty  thousand  pieces  of  gold,  and 
which  required  the  unremitting  labor  of  fifteen  years, 
was  the  work  of  apostate  Jews.  Three  secretaries  of 
Queen  Isabella  were  of  the  despised  nationality.  One 
of  them,  the  famous  chronicler  Pulgar,  had  held  the 
same  office  of  trust  under  King  Henry  IV. 

The  intolerance  of  the  Spanish  clergy  increased  in 
an  exact  ratio  with  the  decadence  of  Moslem  power. 
As  ecclesiastical  supremacy  became  strong  enough  to 
control  the  policy  of  the  liirone,  the  privileges  of  the 
Jews,  abeady  greatly  curtailed,  were  almost  entirely 


154  History  of  the 

abolished.  As  yet,  however,  the  sovereign  was  unable 
to  dispense  either  with  the  taxes  they  paid,  which  were 
the  most  important  part  of  the  royal  revenues,  or  with 
the  financial  talents  and  sterling  honesty  which  in- 
sured their  proper  disbursement.  It  was  not  until  the 
reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  that  fanaticism  was 
allowed  to  prevail  over  the  wise  and  prudential  con- 
siderations of  policy  which,  though  frequently  inter- 
rupted by  scenes  of  horror  and  carnage,  had  in  prac- 
tice ignored  for  centuries  the  fulminations  of  eccle- 
siastical synods  and  councils.  As  the  rise  of  Hebrew 
greatness  in  the  Peninsula  dates  from,  and  is  attrib- 
utable to,  the  Moslem  conquest,  in  like  manner  its 
decay  progressed  with  the  declining  fortunes  of  the 
Saracens,  and  its  destruction  was  coincident  with  the 
disappearance  of  their  empire. 

Scattered  throughout  Europe,  the  Jews  alone  pre- 
served for  future  generations  the  precious  heritage  of 
Arab  science  and  culture;  and  had  tibiey  not  proved 
capable  of  retaining  and  transmitting  it,  the  dis- 
coveries of  Moorish  genius,  banished  with  those  who 
made  them,  would  have  been  forever  lost  to  posterity. 
The  effects  of  civiUzation,  whose  arts,  distributed 
through  the  agency  of  the  Hebrews,  were  productive 
of  such  great  results,  were  principally  manifested,  as 
might  readily  be  conjectured,  in  the  countries  contigu- 
ous to  or  most  intimately  connected  with  the  Penin- 
sula. The  tide  of  Hebrew  emigration  and  trade  rolled 
steadily  into  France,  Portugal,  Italy.  The  states  of 
Provence  and  Languedoc,  under  the  Gothic  name  of 
Septimania,  early  overrun  by  the  conquerors  of  Spain, 
were,  long  prior  to  that  time,  subject  to  Hebrew  in- 
fluence. Attracted  by  the  salubrious  climate  and  the 
excellent  conmiercial  facilities  of  the  coast,  the  Jews 
settled  there  in  great  numbers.  The  overthrow  of  the 
Mohammedan  power  in  that  region  was  not  followed 
by  the  immediate  abolition  of  the  social  and  educa- 


Moorish  Empike  in  Eueope  166 

tional  systems  which  it  had  inaugurated,  and  whose 
perpetuation  was  insured  by  the  most  favorable  cli- 
matic and  ethnological  conditions.  At  Lyons,  the 
Jews  at  one  time  were  held  in  such  esteem  that  the 
market  day  was  changed  from  Saturday  to  Sunday 
in  deference  to  their  reUgious  prejudices.  In  Prov- 
ence, practically  free  from  the  humiliating  distinc- 
tions of  caste,  they  enjoyed  the  same  privileges  and 
were  entitled  to  the  same  protection  as  other  citi- 
zens. At  Beziers,  Carcassonne,  Avignon,  Montpel- 
lier,  and  Narbonne  the  Hebrew  element  predomi- 
nated. It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  famous 
school  of  Montpellier  owed  its  origin  to  the  Arabs 
and  the  Jews.  The  Moslem  conquest  vastly  increased 
the  Hebrew  population,  which  had  already  been  nu- 
merous in  Southern  France  for  more  than  eight 
hundred  years.  The  mystery  which  in  times  of  medi- 
aeval darkness  enveloped  everjrthing  derived  from 
Hebrew  and  Arabic  sources,  the  peculiarities  of  the 
written,  the  incomprehensibility  of  the  spoken,  idioms, 
in  which  education  was  imparted,  the  methodical 
treatment  of  disease,  so  thorough  in  application,  so 
successful  in  results,  pursued  by  its  graduates,  and 
immeasurably  superior  in  every  respect  to  the  mum- 
meries of  priestly  superstition,  invested  the  University 
of  Montpellier  with  a  reputation  which,  acquired  at 
the  expense  of  sacerdotal  influence,  was  attributed  by 
the  ignorant  to  the  invocation  of  infernal  spirits.  The 
infidel  physicians  of  that  institution  were  shunned  by 
the  devout  as  sorcerers.  The  Church  excommunicated 
all  who  had  recoiu'se  to  them.  Not  only  in  that  city, 
but  through  the  greater  part  of  Christendom,  it  was 
considered  far  better  to  permit  an  invalid  to  perish 
than  to  secure  his  recovery  by  the  aid  of  practitioners 
whose  methods  were  denoimced  from  every  pulpit  as 
diabolical  and  infamous.  Christian  women  often  died 
in  childbed  rather  than  smnmon  a  Jewish  midwife, 


156  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

whose  profession  was  exercised  with  signal  ability,  and 
whose  education  was  little  less  thorough  and  profound 
than  that  of  the  doctors  of  the  medical  school.  Sudi 
sacrifices  were  regarded  as  peculiarly  meritorious,  as 
establishing  beyond  doubt  the  consistent  piety  of  the 
victim.  Under  existing  circumstances,  there  was  no 
relief  for  the  priest-ridden  sufferer,  for  the  practice 
of  medicine  was  confined  to  the  Jews.  The  applica- 
tion of  relics,  even  when  strengthened  by  the  most 
edifying  exhibition  of  faith,  could  hardly  prevail 
against  a  fatal  distemper.  On  the  one  hand  was  the 
terrifying  prospect  of  impending  dissolution;  on  the 
other,  the  assurance  of  divine  displeasure  and  the  cer- 
tainty of  sacerdotal  condemnation.  In  the  midst  of 
this  general  intolerance  the  Lords  of  Montpellier 
stood  firm.  They  were  proud  of  their  city, — proud 
of  its  wealth,  its  enterprise,  its  intelligence,  its  repu- 
tation. They  thoroughly  appreciated  the  conditions 
under  which  that  reputation  had  been  created.  Their 
Jewish  subjects  were  the  wealthiest,  the  most  learned, 
the  most  law-abiding  of  citizens.  They  had  more  than 
once  discharged  with  credit  important  public  employ- 
ments. They  had  their  exchange,  their  banks,  their 
schools,  their  cemeteries,  even  their  own  wells  for 
purposes  of  ablution.  They  worshipped  in  a  magnifi- 
cent synagogue,  which  in  richness  and  beauty  vied 
with  the  most  splendid  mosques,  and  from  whose  ceil- 
ing of  aromatic  woods  were  suspended  hundreds  of 
golden  lamps.  Not  only  had  their  hereditary  com- 
mercial instincts  made  Montpellier  a  great  and  pros- 
perous emporium,  but  their  ingenuity  was  exhibited  in 
the  establishment  of  many  important  branches  of 
manufactures.  The  cloths  exported  by  them  were 
especially  noted  for  delicacy  of  finish  and  texture.  In 
the  goldsmiths'  shops  was  produced  elegant  jewelry 
of  classic  design.  Not  a  few  of  the  sacred  vessels 
used  for  the  celebration  of  the  mass  in  the  cathedrals 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  167 

of  Europe  were  fabricated  by  the  Jewish  artisans  of 
Montpellier.  Some  of  the  most  lucrative  depart- 
ments of  industry  for  which  Mohammedan  Spain 
was  famous  were  represented  in  that  city,  among 
them  those  of  silk,  leather,  and  porcelain.  The  in- 
corporation of  the  dominions  of  the  Lords  of  Mont- 
pellier into  the  French  monarchy  not  only  subjected 
the  Jews  to  the  disabilities  and  persecutions  elsewhere 
the  heritage  of  their  race,  but,  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence, proved  fatal  to  the  prosperity  of  that  flour- 
ishing provincial  capital.  Royal  and  episcopal  avarice 
rioted  in  a  new  and  productive  field  of  legalized  ex- 
tortion. The  Jews  were  robbed  and  expelled,  recalled 
under  promises  of  immunity,  and  plundered  again  and 
again.  The  feudal  law  of  mortmain  authorized  the 
confiscation  of  their  property  if  they  were  converted; 
if  they  refused  this  questionable  privilege,  official 
oppression  at  once  reduced  them  to  beggary. 

With  the  increase  of  Christian  influence  in  South- 
em  Europe  their  condition  grew  more  and  more 
desperate.  At  Toledo,  a  riot  having  broken  out  on 
account  of  the  levy  of  an  obnoxious  tax,  the  public 
disorder  was  made  an  excuse  for  the  spoliation  and 
massacre  of  the  Jews.  In  many  districts  in  Europe 
people  were  prohibited  from  furnishing  them  with 
the  necessaries  of  life.  At  Aix,  a  Jew  was  flayed  alive 
for  alleged  blasphemy,  and  a  column  was  erected  to 
commemorate  the  pious  deed.  The  menacing  elo- 
quence of  St.  Vincent  Ferrer  is  said  to  have  driven 
fifteen  thousand  Valencian  Hebrews  to  the  Catholic 
communion.  The  cry  raised  against  Jewish  rapacity 
by  dishonest  or  insolvent  debtors  enured  to  their  bene- 
fit in  the  proceeds  resulting  from  pillage,  and  by  the 
forcible  recovery  of  chattels  deposited  with  brokers 
as  security.  Public  hatred  was  not  confined  to  de- 
ntmciation  of  their  financial  methods;  their  learning 
and  its  depositories  shared  the  common  obloquy.    He- 


I 


158  HlSTOEY  OF  THE 

brew  manuscripts  were  destroyed  whenever  found. 
At  Salamanca  alone,  six  thousand  were  consumed  in 
a  single  bonfire.  In  Paris,  in  one  day,  twenty-four 
cart-loads  of  literary  treasures  were  committed  to 
the  flames.  Monkish  intolerance  raged  everywhere 
against  these  dangerous  competitors  for  popular 
favor  and  pecuniary  gain.  This  prejudice  extended 
to  their  language;  its  study  was  forbidden  under 
penalty  of  excommunication;  and  it  was  constantly 
proclaimed  from  the  pulpit  that  whoever  acquired  it 
became  from  that  moment  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
a  Jew.  Gradually  excluded  from  all  mechanical 
trades  and  liberal  professions,  the  unhappy  people 
were  driven  to  the  business  of  brokerage.  To  this  un- 
popular calling,  whose  commercial  necessity  was  as 
yet  imrecognized  by  European  ignorance,  Hebrew 
enterprise  was  ultimately,  for  the  most  part,  restricted. 
The  practice  of  usury,  reprobated  by  those  whose  im- 
providence or  vices  forced  them  to  have  recourse  to 
it  for  temporary  relief,  had  existed  in  Europe  long 
before  the  stigma  arising  from  its  abuse  attached  to 
the  Jewish  name.  The  Lombards  and  Florentines, 
whose  unfeeling  rapacity  belied  their  claim  to  hu- 
manity, were  those  who  first  rendered  it  odious;  and 
the  Apostolic  See  repeatedly  sold  to  commercial  or- 
ganizations the  privilege  of  financial  oppression.  The 
small  amount  of  cash  in  circulation  authorized  the 
imposition  of  enormous  rates  of  interest.  In  Spain, 
imder  Christian  domination,  the  rate  was  limited  to 
thirty-three  and  a  third  per  cent.,  and  in  other  coun- 
tries it  was  even  more  exorbitant,  but  regulated,  as 
such  matters  always  are,  by  the  natural  laws  of 
supply  and  demand.  The  Italian  brokers,  who  plied 
their  calling  in  France,  not  infrequently  exacted  one 
hundred  and  twenty  per  cent,  per  annimi.  The  edicts 
of  kings  and  the  anathemas  of  councils  were  in- 
effectually directed  against  this  evil,  which  threatened 


Moorish  Empiee  in  Europe  169 

the  impoverishment  of  every  necessitous  person  of 
credit,  produced  unspeakable  suffering,  and  seriously 
retarded  the  progress  of  national  prosperity.  Those 
loudest  in  their  denunciations  were  generally  the  first 
to  apply  for  pecuniary  advances  to  the  objects  of 
their  simulated  wrath.  CathoUc  sovereigns  secretly 
pledged  the  royal  jewels  with  Hebrew  usurers;  and 
it  was  the  public  boast  of  the  latter  that  the  sacred 
vessels  of  cathedrals  and  religious  houses  were  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  at  their  absolute  or  condi- 
tional disposal.  The  glaring  inconsistency  which 
characterized  every  phase  of  Jewish  persecution  was 
thus  imusually  conspicuous  in  the  condemnation  of 
their  usurious  practices. 

In  Portugal,  whose  proximity  to  and  original  in- 
corporation with  the  Hispano-Arab  empire  had  at- 
tracted a  large  Hebrew  immigration,  the  Jews,  as  else- 
where, availing  themselves  of  the  superior  attainments 
acquired  under  Moslem  institutions,  speedily  grew 
rich  and  powerful.  There,  also,  in  an  ignorant  society 
debased  by  the  predominance  of  a  narrow  and  des- 
potic ecclesiastical  system,  their  toleration  became  for 
a  time  a  political  necessity.  Their  services  were  so 
indispensable  to  all  orders  of  the  state  that  the  dis- 
abilities imposed  upon  them  were  regarded  as  merely 
nominal,  and  the  laws  regulating  their  intercourse 
with  each  other  and  with  the  Christians  remained  for 
the  most  part  inoperative. 

In  Italy,  the  hand  of  the  Jew  was  visible  in  the 
energy  and  enterprise  of  the  maritime  states  of 
Venice,  Genoa,  Leghorn,  and  Naples.  A  less  intoler- 
able existence  was  insured  to  him  under  the  shadow 
of  the  Papal  throne.  The  exiles  of  Western  Europe, 
expelled  by  the  short-sighted  policy  of  irrational 
fanatics,  were  coldly  welcomed  on  the  banks  of  the 
Po  and  the  Tiber  and  on  the  sunny  shores  of  the 
Adriatic.     The  industry  and  culture  inherited  from 


160  HlSTOEY  OF  THE 

the  golden  age  of  Moslem  domination  became  sources 
of  wealth,  mercantile  importance,  and  literary  dis- 
tinction to  the  Italians,  whose  reluctant  hospitality 
was  eventually  repaid  a  himdred-fold  by  the  profit 
derived  from  the  labors  of  these  refugees  and  the  re- 
sults of  the  emulation  excited  by  their  example.  It 
was  thus  that,  after  the  lapse  of  five  centuries  and  at 
a  distance  of  a  thousand  miles,  the  civilization  of  the 
Moslem  empire  in  Spain  produced,  through  the 
agency  of  an  alien  and  exiled  race,  the  glorious  revival 
of  arts  and  letters  in  Italy.  That  tiie  Jews  should 
be  credited  with  the  dissemination  of  Arab  science 
and  literatiu'e  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  in 
whatever  country  those  of  Spanish  extraction,  or  their 
descendants,  established  themselves,  the  people  of  that 
coimtry  quickly  experienced  an  intellectual  impulse 
imknown  to  others  not  exposed  to  similar  associations. 
Modem  civilization  has  ill-requited  the  priceless  bene- 
fits it  has  received  from  Jewish  learning  and  Jewish 
skiU. 

The  tenacity  of  the  mind  of  the  Israelite  was 
amazing.  It  never  relaxed  its  hold  upon  a  valuable 
idea  once  within  its  grasp.  Much  as  it  communicated, 
its  secretive  character  induced  it  always  to  suppress 
far  more  than  it  imparted,  a  habit  which  increased  its 
mysterious  influence.  It  had  the  peculiar  quality  of 
immediately  quickening  into  life  the  more  sluggish 
mental  natures  of  all  with  whom  it  was  brought  in 
contact.  No  disposition,  however  harsh  or  ascetic,  was 
proof  against  the  exertion  of  its  power.  The  Jewish 
colonies,  transplanted  into  the  midst  of  an  ignorant 
population,  became  at  once  foci  of  learning.  Bigotry 
itself  regarded  with  awe  and  respect  the  intellectual 
superiority  which  anticipated  and  checked  hostile 
measures  directed  against  its  continuance,  and,  with- 
out the  employment  of  force,  nullified  laws  espe- 
cially enacted  for  its  repression.    It  was  not  strange 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  161 

that  prosperity  maintained  in  the  presence  of  such 
obstacles  should  be  attributed  to  diabolical  interfer- 
ence. Into  his  new  home  the  Jew  brought  not  only 
the  energy  and  acuteness  which  were  the  guaranty  of 
his  success,  but  the  inteUigent  curiosity  which  was  the 
principal  factor  of  his  extraordinary  mental  develop- 
ment. Not  a  few  possessed  extensive  Ubraries,  lux- 
Tiries  absolutely  unknown  in  many  European  coun- 
tries where  even  writing  materials  did  not  exist,  or, 
if  they  did,  were  unavailable.  The  scattered  books 
to  be  found  in  churches  and  monasteries  were  palimp- 
sests, ancient  parchments  from  which  the  productions 
of  classic  authors  had  been  laboriously  effaced  to  make 
room  for  saintly  homilies  and  patristic  legends.  Per- 
fection in  calligraphy  had  kept  pace  with  the  other 
artistic  achievements  of  the  Spanish  Hebrews.  Their 
Biblical  manuscripts  had  a  world-wide  celebrity  for 
accuracy  of  text  and  beauty  of  ornamentation.  Many 
were  illimiinated  with  arabesques  and  floral  designs 
executed  in  colors  and  embellished  with  gold.  So 
highly  were  these  copies  of  the  Scriptures  valued  thlit 
in  Spain  one  of  but  ordinary  merit  readily  brought  a 
hundred  crowns. 

The  number  of  Hebrew  writers  who  attained  dis- 
tinction in  the  Middle  Ages  was  enormous.  The  great 
catalogue  of  Bartholocdus,  which  emmaerates  those 
of  Spain,  Italy,  and  France — countries  particularly 
subject,  directly  and  individually,  to  Arab  influence 
— ^fills  four  volumes  in  folio  a^d  contains  f oiu*  thou- 
sand names.  Among  these,  authors  of  Spanish  origin 
largely  predominate.  The  activity  of  the  Hebrew  in- 
tellect was  not  hampered  by  conventional  restrictions 
of  sex,  nor  deterred  by  the  diflSculties  or  demands  of 
any  profession  or  calling.  Among  that  people,  pre- 
cautions arising  from  Oriental  jealousy,  which  had 
been  observed  from  time  immemorial,  required  the 
seclusion  of  women;   and  this  custom  was  naturally 


162  HlSTOEY  OF  THE 

unfavorable  to  female  education.  They  were  practi- 
cally the  slaves,  first  of  their  fathers,  then  of  their 
husbands.  In  pubUc  they  always  appeared  veiled 
from  head  to  foot.  In  so  little  esteem  were  they  ordi- 
naily  held,  that  it  was  not  considered  necessary  to 
instruct  them  even  in  the  doctrines  of  religion.  What- 
ever talents,  therefore,  Jewish  females  possessed  were, 
until  the  Saracen  domination  in  Europe,  unknown  and 
undeveloped. 

The  educational  facilities  afforded  the  Moorish 
women  under  the  beneficent  sway  of  the  Ommeyade 
khalifs,  and  the  prominence  attained  by  many  of 
them  in  the  world  of  letters,  did  not  fail  to  exercise 
its  influence  upon  the  habits  and  the  career  of  their 
Jewish  sisters.  This  fact  is  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance, in  view  of  the  strict  subordination  enforced 
upon  Hebrew  women  in  all  periods  of  their  history, 
a  regulation  largely  due  to  their  naturally  dependent 
condition  and  their  alleged  intellectual  inferiority. 
In  the  cultivated  society  of  Cordova,  the  stubborn 
tenacity  of  long-established  prejudice  vanished  before 
the  enlightened  and  progressive  spirit  of  the  age. 
Under  such  circumstances,  even  the  severe  authority 
of  the  rabbis  became,  in  a  measure,  relaxed ;  and  while 
the  names  of  no  Jewish  women  pre-eminently  distin- 
guished for  learning  have  come  down  to  us,  it  is  an 
unquestionable  fact  that  they  were  allowed  to  enjoy, 
to  an  extent  hitherto  unprecedented,  the  literary  ad- 
vantages whose  possession  was  generally  admitted  to 
constitute  an  exclusive  privilege  of  the  masculine  sex. 
As  the  policy  and  traditions  of  the  Synagogue  dis- 
couraged such  innovations,  it  is  not  strange  that  no 
record  of  their  results  has  been  preserved.  The  ex- 
haustive researches  of  Kayserling  have  brought  to 
light  the  name  of  a  single  Hebrew  poetess,  Xemosa, 
of  the  era  of  the  khalif  ate ;  but  all  particulars  of  time 


Moorish  Empike  in  Eubofe  168 

and  locality,  of  her  Uterary  career,  and  of  the  char- 
acter of  her  works  are  missing. 

The  most  remarkable  peculiarity  of  the  Hebrew 
character  was  its  versatility.  In  every  pursuit  in 
which  his  talents  were  employed  the  Jew  of  Spanish 
origin  rose  to  unrivalled  distinction.  The  marvellous 
erudition  and  diversified  accomplishments  of  their 
scholars  were  not  inferior  to  those  of  the  Moorish 
philosophers  of  Cordova  in  the  most  glorious  days  of 
Moslem  dominion.  They  became  equally  proficient  in 
many  branches  of  abstruse  science,  any  one  of  which 
was  sufficient  to  exhaust  the  mental  resources  of  an 
ordinary  student.  Their  eminence  in  the  practice  of 
medicine  gave  rise  to  the  popular  belief  tiiat  an  ad- 
mixture of  Jewish  blood  was  absolutely  essential  to 
success  in  that  profession,  an  opinion  not  confined  to 
the  vulgar,  but  seriously  discussed  by  a  learned  Italian 
historian.  The  fact  that  the  study  of  astronomy 
should  have  been  almost  always  combined  with  that 
of  medicine  is  one  of  the  most  singular  incidents  in 
the  annals  of  literature.  It  might  be  explained  by  a 
predilection  for  astrology,  if  Hebrew  intelligence  had 
not  long  outgrown  the  belief  in  that  delusion,  so  prev- 
alent in  the  infancy  of  knowledge.  In  familiarity 
with  the  visible  heavens,  with  the  motions  of  the 
planets,  and  the  relative  position  of  stars,  in  accuracy 
of  mathematical  calculation,  in  dexterous  use  of  the 
astrolabe  and  the  armillary  sphere,  they  surpassed  all 
other  observers  except  the  Arabs.  So  popular  was 
this  science  among  them  in  Spain  during  the  thirteenth 
century  that  the  Jewish  astronomers  of  Toledo  alone 
exceeded  in  numbers  all  the  others  of  Christian  Eu- 
rope combined.  The  invaluable  services  they  rendered 
to  learning  were  not  inferior  to  the  ingenious  methods 
by  which  they  facilitated  international  communica- 
tion and  promoted  the  convenience  and  security  of 
trade.     When  suddenly  expelled  from  France  by 


164  HlSTOEY  OF  THE 

Philip  Augustus,  they  left  with  Christians  in  whom 
they  could  confide  their  personal  property,  which, 
from  its  hulk  or  its  value,  they  were  unable  to  carry 
with  them.  After  their  arrival  in  Italy,  they  drew 
through  Lombard  merchants  upon  the  custodians  of 
their  chattels,  either  for  the  goods  themselves  or  for 
the  cash  realized  from  their  sale.  In  this  way  Eu- 
rope became  indebted  to  the  Jews  for  the  general  in- 
troduction of  bills  of  exchange,  previously  invented 
by  their  countrymen  at  Barcelona,  whidi  from  a 
benefit  to  mercantile  transactions  in  the  settlement  of 
foreign  obligations  have  now  grown  to  be  a  com- 
mercial necessity. 

Popular  prejudice  against  the  Hebrew  nationality 
was  aggravated,  not  only  because  of  the  eminent 
ability  in  matters  of  literature  and  finance,  implying 
superiority,  which  it  displayed,  but  on  account  of  its 
control  of  the  markets  of  the  world  and  of  its  pos- 
session of  the  greater  part  of  the  money  in  circulation 
west  of  the  Bosphorus.  From  the  tenth  centiuy,  when 
the  Moorish  ports  of  Southern  Spain  had  become  the 
emporiums  of  the  Mediterranean,  to  the  sixteenth, 
when  the  discovery  of  Columbus  and  the  passage  of 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  had  opened  a  new  field  to 
the  cupidity  and  ambition  of  Europe,  the  trade  of 
three  great  continents  was  subservient  to  the  enter- 
prise of  the  Jews.  The  commercial  heritage  be- 
queathed to  their  allies  by  the  Phoenicians  had  endured 
through  changes  of  empire,  through  the  wrecks  of 
successive  dynasties,  through  persecutions  of  in- 
credible atrocity,  for  more  than  twenty  centuries. 

The  persistency  which  is  a  marked  ethnological 
peculiarity  of  the  Jews  is  at  once  the  cause  and  the 
effect  of  their  claim  to  Divine  favor.  The  more 
intelligent  of  that  people  have  never  expected  the 
appearance  of  a  personal  Messiah.  They  regard  the 
popular  myth   of  his   coming   as   symbolizing  the 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  165 

termination  of  national  exile, — ^a  mere  allegorical 
allusion  to  the  eventual  independence  and  tranquil- 
lity which  hope,  deepening  through  ages  into  helief , 
assured  them  would  one  day  be  the  condition  of  their 
race.  This  conviction,  founded  rather  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  its  justice  than  in  any  well-defined  prospect 
of  its  realization,  sustained  them  through  a  long  series 
of  grievous  trials  and  misfortunes.  Accused  of  crimes 
such  as  the  utmost  ingenuity  of  malice  has  never  im- 
puted to  any  other  sect,  they  retaliated  by  acts  of  self- 
sacrifice  and  generosity.  In  the  midst  of  the  futile 
solemnities  of  the  Church,  the  pomp  of  processions, 
the  intonation  of  litanies,  the  muttering  of  prayers, 
the  smoking  of  censers,  the  exhibition  of  relics,  they 
administered  the  remedies  of  scientific  medicine  to  the 
suffering  stricken  with  the  pestilence.  During  the 
first  visitation  of  the  plague  at  Venice,  in  addition  to 
a  liberal  donation,  they  lent  the  government  a  hundred 
thousand  ducats  for  the  relief  of  the  poor.  In  time  of 
national  peril,  their  loyalty  never  faltered,  except 
when  their  spirit  had  been  exasperated  by  continued 
oppression.  The  funds  they  advanced  were  employed 
to  drive  the  Arabs  out  of  Spain.  Moorish  domination, 
established  through  their  instrumentality,  was  thus  in- 
debted to  their  contributions  for  its  overthrow.  The 
most  exacting  requirements  of  retributive  justice  were 
certainly  satisfied  with  the  penalty  exacted  by  fate  for 
this  perfidious  act  of  ingratitude. 

Modem  prejudice,  like  mediaeval  ignorance,  is  re- 
luctant to  confess  the  obligations  learning  owes  to 
Hebrew  genius  and  industry.  The  Jews  were,  in  turn, 
the  teachers,  the  pupils,  and  the  coadjutors  of  the 
Moors;  the  legatees  and  the  distributors  of  the  pre- 
cious stores  of  Arab  wisdom.  The  rabbis,  few  of 
whom,  it  may  be  remarked,  were  not  expert  workmen 
in  tiie  mechanical  trades,  a  knowledge  of  which  was 
enjoined  by  their  religion,  spread  the  love  of  letters 


166  History  of  the 

everywhere.  All  treatises  in  Arabic,  of  practical  or 
scientific  value,  were  translated  into  Hebrew.  Their 
familiarity  with  every  branch  of  classical  literature  is 
apparent  in  their  writings;  even  the  Fables  of  ^sop 
were  reproduced  in  their  language.  Purity  of  diction 
and  elegance  of  style  were  striking  characteristics  of 
all  the  literary  productions  of  the  Spanish  Jews.  The 
most  eminent  Christian  prelates  of  Spain  during  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  were  apostate  rabbis. 
The  proficiency  of  their  medical  practitioners  has 
already  been  repeatedly  alluded  to.  For  years  after 
the  banishment  of  the  Jews  from  the  Peninsula,  entire 
districts  remained  without  the  benefits  of  medical 
treatment.  Such  as  were  able  resorted  to  foreign 
countries  at  great  expense  and  inconvenience;  the 
vast  majority  of  invalids  suffered  without  relief. 
The  reputation  of  the  Hebrew  was  so  great,  even  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  that  Francis  I.  sent  to  the  Em- 
peror Charles  V.  for  a  Jewish  physician;  and  one 
who  had  been  converted  to  Christianity  having  under- 
taken the  journey  to  Paris,  the  French  king  refused 
to  receive  him  as  soon  as  he  learned  that  he  was  an 
apostate.  Hebrew  erudition  exercised  no  small  influ- 
ence on  both  Moorish  and  Spanish  literature.  Many 
of  the  treatises  of  the  Jewish  philosophers,  written  in 
Arabic,  enjoyed  a  wide  circulation  in  the  cultivated 
society  of  the  khalif  ate  and  of  the  principalities  which 
succeeded  it.  The  first  biography  of  the  Cid  was 
written  by  Ibn-Alfange,  a  Jew.  The  collection  of 
tales  entitled  El  Conde  Lucanor,  by  Don  Juan 
Manuel,  is  borrowed  from  a  composition  of  similar 
character  by  Moses  Sephardi,  a  Hebrew  fabulist. 

In  the  works  of  all  the  distinguished  Jewish  writers 
who  had  either  directly  or  remotely  been  subjected  to 
the  influence  of  the  Moslem  academies  of  Spain,  Aris- 
totelian and  Neo-Platonic  opinions  prevail.  Orthodox 
Judaism  could  not  survive  in  the  atmosphere  of  those 


MCX)RISH   EMPtt£  m   EuEOtE  16l7 

infidel  institutions.  The  rabbis  were,  without  excep- 
tion, to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  infected  with  panthe- 
istic ideas.  They  were  firm  believers  in  the  heretical 
doctrine  of  Emanation  and  Absorption.  In  common 
with  their  Arabic  associates,  who  had  long  since  repu- 
diated the  legends  of  the  Koran,  they  accepted  in  all 
its  portentous  significance  the  aphorism,  "  Science  is 
religion." 

Nothing  is  more  remarkable  in  the  history  of  the 
Jews  of  the  Middle  Ages  than  their  survival  under 
persecution.  The  most  awful  calamities  failed  to  im- 
pair their  organization  or  destroy  their  faith.  They 
were  naturally  a  rebellious  people.  Their  ancient 
history  is  a  tale  of  breaches  of  faith,  treason,  and 
sedition.  They  were  enslaved  in  a  body  by  Egiza, 
King  of  the  Visigoths,  for  a  conspiracy  which  aimed 
at  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy.  The  Crusaders, 
inflamed  by  the  harangues  of  the  clergy,  on  their 
march  to  Palestine  butchered  them  wherever  f  oimd. 
In  France  alone  a  himdred  thousand  were  massacred 
by  the  truculent  soldiers  of  the  Cross.  The  Almohade 
fanatics  drove  them  out  of  Spain.  Philippe  le  Bel 
confiscated  their  property  and  expelled  them  from  his 
kingdom.  Henry  III.,  of  England,  sold  all  the  Jews 
in  his  dominions  to  his  brother  Richard  for  a  large 
sum  of  money.  The  Emperor  Louis  IV.  pawned  the 
Hebrew  colony  of  the  city  of  Spires,  like  so  much 
merchandise,  to  the  Bishop  as  security  for  a  debt.  In 
Aragon,  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  fifty 
thousand  were  put  to  death  and  double  that  nimiber 
compelled  to  renounce  their  religion.  The  popes  alter- 
nately treated  them  with  severity  and  indulgence,  as 
the  financial  condition  of  the  Holy  See  was  pros- 
perous or  necessitous.  Thus,  while  grievously  op- 
pressed in  other  countries  of  Europe,  they  often  en- 
joyed temporary  immunity  in  Italy.  Possessed  of  no 
civil  rights,  existing  only  by  sufferance,  they  were 


168  History  of  the 

the  prey  of  every  one  clothed  for  the  moment  with 
power.  Church  and  State,  alike,  regarded  them  as 
a  most  valuable  source  of  income.  The  money  annu- 
ally extorted  from  the  Jewish  population  of  a  king- 
dom was  frequently  far  in  excess  of  all  other  revenues 
combined. 

The  Hebrew  works  of  mediaeval  antiquity  contain 
the  germs  of  scientific  discoveries  which  modem  pride 
is  pleased  to  designate  as  of  comparatively  recent 
origin.  In  the  Zohar,  a  collection  of  treatises  belong- 
ing to  the  Kabbala,  are  embodied  highly  philosophic 
cosmological  ideas,  and  rational  conceptions  relating 
to  the  vital  principle  of  Natiu-e,  and  the  scientific 
treatment  of  disease,  which  were  subsequently  applied 
to  public  instruction  and  practical  use  in  the  famous 
schools  of  Salerno  and  Montpellier.  The  various 
physiognomical  changes  wrought  upon  the  lineaments 
of  the  himian  countenance  by  the  cultivation  of  be- 
nevolent instincts  or  the  indulgence  of  evil  passions 
are  there  described  with  a  faithfulness  which  points 
to  an  extraordinary  insight  into  the  incentives  and 
desires  which  control  the  actions  of  men.  In  this 
remarkable  compilation  of  Hebrew  learning,  the  doc- 
trine of  Pantheism,  as  suggested  by  the  time-honored 
philosophy  of  India,  is  set  forth ;  the  globular  form  of 
the  earth,  its  diurnal  revolution  on  its  axis,  the  varjnng 
phases  of  that  planet,  the  diflPerence  in  the  length  of 
day  and  night  at  the  equator  and  the  poles,  and  the 
scientific  reasons  for  the  existence  of  these  phenomena, 
are  all  described  with  an  accuracy  which  is  wonderful 
when  the  general  ignorance  of  the  epoch  during  which 
these  opinions,  so  far  in  advance  of  the  time,  were 
promulgated,  is  remembered.  In  the  thirteentii  cen- 
tury, Jedediah-ben- Abraham,  of  Beziers,  advanced 
the  hypothesis  that  all  objects  impelled  in  opposite 
directions,  and  undisturbed  by  other  forces,  move  in 
straight  lines, — ^the  essential  element  of  one  of  the 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Europe  169 

laws  now  universally  recognized  as  governing  the  mo- 
tions of  the  heavenly  bodies.  Solomon-ben- Virga,  a 
Spanish  refugee,  in  his  historical  treatise,  Sebeth-Je- 
huda,  published  in  the  sixteenth  century,  states  that 
the  earth,  equally  attracted  by  the  surrounding  stars, 
remains  suspended  in  the  midst  of  space;  an  immis- 
takable  conception  of  the  principle  of  gravity  which 
antedates  its  republication  in  Europe  by  more  than  a 
himdred  years.  The  philosophical  truths  just  enumer- 
ated, which  anticipate  the  important  discoveries  of 
Boerhaave,  Lavater,  Galileo,  Kepler,  and  Newton, 
afford  a  suggestive  idea  of  the  attainments  of  the 
rabbis,  the  accuracy  of  their  reasoning,  and  the  extent 
and  profundity  of  their  scientific  knowledge. 

While  Jewish  exiles  were  instrumental  in  awaken- 
ing the  spirit  which  inspired  the  Renaissance,  and  the 
consequent  intellectual  regeneration  of  Europe,  their 
literature  produced  no  inconsiderable  effect  upon  the 
fortunes  of  that  other  momentous  revolution  which 
changed  its  religious  aspect,  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion. The  right  of  unrestricted  perusal  and  private 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  which  was  the  vital 
principle  of  that  movement,  had  always  been  enjoyed 
by  the  Hebrews.  Their  commentaries  on  the  Bible 
were  surprisingly  voluminous:  whole  libraries  were 
composed  of  them.  The  writings  of  the  rabbis  which 
elucidated  obscure  passages  of  Holy  Writ  were  com- 
posed in  a  spirit  of  judicious  toleration,  entirely  for- 
eign to  the  policy  dictated  by  bigoted  ecclesiasticism 
and  Papal  authority.  To  exercise  private  judgment 
in  religious  matters  was  to  invite  the  discipline  of  the 
Inquisition.  Not  one  priest  in  ten  thousand  under- 
stood a  word  of  Hebrew.  Its  study  was  prohibited  to 
Catholics  as  conducive  to  heresy.  On  the  other  hand, 
LfUther,  Calvin,  Melanchthon,  Zwinglius,  Conrad,  in 
short,  all  the  great  Reformers,  were  thoroughly  pro- 
ficient in  that  language.    Rabbinical  literature  exerted 


170  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

a  powerful  influence  on  their  minds,  inspired  their 
efforts,  provoked  their  rivalry,  confirmed  their  resolu- 
tion. In  this  respect,  as  in  numerous  others,  posterity 
owes  much  to  the  despised  Israelites  of  the  mediaeval 
era.  A  vast  interval  of  time  divides  the  ages  of  Abd- 
al-Rahman  I.  and  Luther;  the  cities  of  Cordova  and 
Worms  are  separated  by  many  hundred  leagues;  but 
the  inherent  ideas  of  personal  liberty  and  private  right 
recognized  on  the  banks  of  the  Guadalquivir  ulti- 
mately prevailed  in  the  centre  of  Germany,  once  the 
most  unlettered  of  countries.  Thus  the  inheritance  of 
barbarism,  rendered  possible  by  Roman  decadence, 
transmitted  by  Goth,  Hun,  and  Vandal,  and  perpetu- 
ated for  the  material  interests  of  the  Church,  was 
supplanted  by  the  labors  and  the  example  of  rabbinical 
industry  and  learning.  The  epoch  of  ignorance,  dur- 
ing which  men  feared  to  be  enlightened  by  a  people 
whose  transcendent  knowledge  was  believed  to  be  of 
infernal  origin,  was  past;  but  their  disabilities  were 
never  entirely  removed,  and  Jew-baiting  is,  imf ortu- 
nately,  still  a  popular  diversion  in  some  of  the  coun- 
tries of  Europe. 

The  importance  of  the  invention  of  printing  was 
at  once  imderstood  and  appreciated  by  the  Jews.  Ten 
years  after  it  became  faiown,  their  presses  in  Italy 
produced  typographical  works  of  extraordinary 
beauty  and  excellence.  Their  prominence  in  every 
movement  directed  towards  the  weakening  of  super- 
stition and  the  emancipation  of  the  human  intellect 
did  not  prevent  them  from  sustaining  intimate  and 
confidential  relations  with  the  Holy  See.  The  Papacy 
was,  as  a  rule,  not  unfavorably  inclined  towards  them; 
it  borrowed  their  money,  and  availed  itself  of  their 
talents  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs.  Many  Jews 
of  Rome  attained  to  great  political  distinction.  Jehid 
was  the  financial  minister  of  Alexander  III. ;  and  the 
son  of  a  wealthy  Hebrew  merchant,  named  Pietro  il 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  171 

Buono,  is  known  to  posterity  as  the  antipope  Anacle- 
tus.  Such  were  the  Hebrews  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
whose  success  in  literature,  art,  science,  commerce, 
politics,  and  diplomacy  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  im- 
pulse originally  imparted  to  their  genius,  and  to  the 
privileges  enjoyed  by  their  ancestors,  under  the  gen- 
erous and  tolerant  policy  of  the  Elialif  s  of  Cordova. 

The  expulsion  of  the  Spanish  Jews  is  one  of  the 
saddest  and  most  deplorable  tragedies  in  history.  The 
royal  edict  which  decided  their  fate,  and  whose  execu- 
tion had  been  deferred  until  the  Moorish  wars  were 
ended,  was  published  March  81,  1492.  The  charge 
brought  against  them  of  having  menaced  the  security 
of  the  State  and  the  tranquillity  of  the  Church,  by 
projected  conspiracy,  is  too  absurd  to  be  seriously 
considered.  To  strengthen  these  unfounded  accusa- 
tions, the  threadbare  fables  relating  to  the  sacrifice  of 
Christian  infants  at  Easter,  and  the  repeated  solicita- 
tion of  Catholics  to  apostasy,  were  once  more  utilized 
to  inflame  the  passions  of  the  fanatical  multitude. 
Three  months  only  were  allowed  for  the  disposal  of 
their  property  and  the  completion  of  their  prepara- 
tions for  departure;  and,  if  that  term  were  exceeded, 
the  proclamation  made  them  liable  to  the  seizure 
of  their  chattels,  and  even  to  the  penalty  of  death. 
They  were  prohibited  from  removing  from  the  king- 
dom money  or  vessels  of  gold  or  silver;  and  the  only 
objects  specified  in  the  royal  ordinance  which  they 
were  permitted  to  retain  were  bills  of  exchange  and 
portable  effects  which  could  easily  be  transported. 
The  Grand  Inquisitor,  Torquemada,  revered  in  the 
annals  of  the  Church  as  one  of  her  most  famous 
champions,  and  the  confessor  of  Queen  Isabella,  to 
whose  credit  stand  the  tortures  of  a  hundred  thousand 
heretics  and  the  grief  and  misery  of  other  unnum- 
bered multitudes,  was  the  inspiring  spirit  of  this  atro- 
cious crime  against  humanity.     His  influence  neu- 


172  History  of  the 

tralized  the  supplications  of  an  entire  people;  the 
remonstrances  of  the  few  statesmen  who,  withstanding 
the  popular  clamor,  foresaw  the  certain  decline  of  com- 
mercial prosperity  incident  to  the  enforcement  of  this 
measure;  the  insidious  and  hitherto  omnipotent  agency 
of  vast  simis  of  gold.  Accoimts  differ  materially  as 
to  the  number  of  Jews  expelled  from  Spain;  it  was, 
however,  not  less  than  four  hundred  thousand,  and  was 
probably  near  a  million.  Their  sufferings  equalled, 
if  they  did  not  surpass,  those  of  the  Moriscoes,  after- 
wards condenmed  by  a  similar  proscription.  The  air 
was  filled  with  their  lamentations.  Many  remained 
for  days  in  the  cemeteries,  weeping  over  the  graves 
of  their  ancestors.  The  majority  who  travelled  by 
land  went  on  foot.  With  the  exiles  departed  the 
greater  portion  of  the  learning,  the  skill,  the  wealth, 
the  industry,  and  the  prosperity  of  Spain.  Their 
estates  were  confiscated  by  the  crown.  Rigid  personal 
search  was  made  of  every  individual  for  concealed 
valuables,  which  impelled  many  to  swallow  their  gold. 
Brigands  stripped  them  on  the  highway.  Sailors 
robbed  them  on  the  sea.  Their  wives  were  ravished, 
their  children  despatched  before  their  eyes.  Many 
perished  from  want  of  food.  A  pestilence  decimated 
an  entire  company,  and  the  survivors  were  abandoned 
to  die  on  a  desert  island,  without  water  or  shelter. 
Great  numbers  were  sold  by  their  barbarous  custodians 
to  slave  traders.  The  inadverent  disclosure  of  wealth 
was  fatal  to  its  possessor;  he  was  at  once  thrown  over- 
board, and  his  property  became  the  spoil  of  the  mur- 
derer. Those  who  landed  in  Morocco  were  not  per- 
mitted to  enter  the  cities,  and  a  famine  whidi  at  that 
time  was  desolating  the  country  made  it  impossible 
for  such  an  increased  population  to  obtain  subsistence. 
Encamped  in  the  arid  desert,  they  were  compelled  to 
have  recourse  to  unwholesome  roots  and  herbs  in  a 
desperate  effort  to  sustain  life.    Thousands  died  of 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  178 

exposure.  Many  sold  their  children  to  avoid  starva- 
tion. A  large  proportion  of  these  refugees  landed  in 
Italy,  where  an  enlightened  public  sentiment  stood 
ready  to  profit  by  the  wealth  and  industry  that  the 
narrow  spirit  of  Spanish  bigotry  was  so  detennined 
to  throw  away.  Pope  Alexander  VI.,  the  head  of  the 
house  of  Borgia,  notwithstanding  that  the  prominent 
Israelites  of  Rome  offered  him  a  thousand  pieces  of 
gold  to  exclude  them,  received  the  heretics  proscribed 
by  the  most  Catholic  sovereigns  with  the  utinost  con- 
sideration and  sympathy.  The  maritime  states  of  the 
Adriatic  compelled  their  Hebrew  citizens,  who,  fear- 
ing commercial  rivalry,  were  inclined  to  regard  this 
influx  of  strangers  with  disfavor,  to  render  substan- 
tial assistance  to  their  unfortunate  brethren.  In  Hol- 
land, also,  the  exiles  were  welcomed  with  a  hospi- 
tality that  in  after  years  the  advantages  derived  from 
their  establishment  abundantly  repaid.  The  antipathy 
entertained  by  the  Spanish  populace  towards  the  Jews, 
diligently  fostered  by  the  infamous  arts  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, was  far  from  being  dissipated  by  the  banish- 
ment and  extermination  of  tiie  victims  of  its  malevo- 
lence; in  default  of  the  living,  its  vengeance  was 
wreaked  upon  the  dead.  Nearly  a  century  after  the 
expulsion,  when  an  avowed  Israelite  could  not  be 
found  in  the  Spanish  monarchy,  the  Hebrew  cemetery 
at  Seville  was  invaded  by  a  mob;  the  costly  monu- 
ments were  battered  into  fragments;  the  graves 
opened  and  rifled,  and  the  mouldering  bones  f  oimd  in 
them  burned  to  ashes.  A  considerable  booty  in  gold 
and  silver  trinkets,  jewels,  precious  stuffs,  and  illu- 
minated manuscripts  rewarded  this  act  of  sacrilege, 
whose  authors  were  neither  molested  nor  punished  by 
the  authorities. 

Among  the  most  eminent  victims  of  Jewish  perse- 
cution was  the  great  statesman  and  scholar,  Abarbanel. 
No  name  in  letters  stood  higher  than  his.    In  turn,  the 


174  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

favorite  and  absolute  minister  of  the  sovereigns  of 
Portugal,  Spain,  and  Naples,  he  shared  the  fate  of 
his  countrymen,  and,  deprived  of  his  offices  and  home 
in  each  of  these  kingdoms,  was  three  times  driven  into 
exile.  Such  was  the  respect  which  his  talents  inspired, 
that  the  princes  who  had  been  foremost  in  persecuting 
him  were  glad  to  avail  themselves  of  his  experience 
in  settlements  of  important  questions  of  diplomacy. 
His  literary  ability  was  so  great  that  his  admirers  have 
classed  him  with  Maimonides.  In  philosophy  he  was 
most  liberal;  in  religion  a  polemic;  in  politics,  strange 
to  say,  a  republican.  In  private  or  in  public  life  no 
stain  or  dishonor  ever  attached  to  his  name. 

The  scenes  witnessed  during  the  expulsion  of  ihe 
Jews  from  Portugal  were  even  more  shocking  in  their 
barbarity  than  those  that  characterized  their  expatria- 
tion from  any  other  country  of  Christian  Europe. 
Only  two  months  were  allowed  them  to  settle  their 
affairs;  if  any  remained  beyond  that  time  they  were 
condemned  to  slavery.  All  males  xmder  the  age  of 
fourteen  were  to  be  separated  from  their  relatives,  that 
they  might  be  brought  into  the  pale  of  the  Church, 
which  aimed  at  the  annihilation  of  their  race.  The 
latter  part  of  the  inexorable  sentence  was  the  first  to 
be  executed.  The  screaming  boys  were  torn  from 
the  arms  of  their  parents,  who  were  brutally  clubbed 
until  they  released  their  hold ;  many  distracted  mothers, 
unable  to  sustain  the  loss  of  their  children,  committed 
suicide  or  killed  their  offspring;  of  the  latter  some 
were  cast  into  wells,  others  were  strangled.  Every 
obstacle  was  thrown  in  the  way  of  the  departure  of 
the  Jews  until  the  limited  time  had  expired,  and  then 
nearly  the  entire  number  was  enslaved.  Apostasy  was 
now  tiie  only  remedy  for  their  distressed  condition,  and 
this  many  embraced.  Their  social  status  was  thereby 
immensely  improved  at  the  expense  of  their  con- 
science.   They  contracted  distinguished  alliances  with 


.   MooBisH  Empire  in  Exjkope  175 

their  recent  oppressors,  and  their  children  were 
adopted  into  the  families  of  the  nobihty. 

The  Spanish  Jews,  by  reason  of  the  pecuharities  of 
their  situation,  the  hostihty  of  their  rulers, — ^which 
their  pecuniary  resources  and  natural  acuteness  often 
baffled,  yet  never  entirely  overcame, — and  their  suc- 
cessive domiuation  by  races  of  different  origin,  faith, 
and  language,  were  impressed  with  mental  character- 
istics and  pecuharities  not  to  be  met  with  in  their 
brethren  of  other  countries.  Their  rigid  f  ormahsm 
was  proverbial,  and  the  Hebrew  of  Toledo  observed 
more  conscientiously  the  precepts  of  the  Pentateuch 
iBind  the  Talmud  than  the  Hebrew  of  Damascus  or 
Jerusalem.  But  their  traditional  reserve  did  not  pre- 
vent them  from  sohciting  proselytes;  and  it  is  stated 
that  the  rabbis,  ignoring  the  prohibitory  injxmctions 
of  the  national  Code,  upon  one  occasion  challenged 
the  bishops  to  a  debate,  in  presence  of  the  throne,  upon 
the  merits  of  their  respective  systems;  an  act  of 
audacity  which  does  not  seem  to  have  excited  even  the 
surprise  of  the  prelates  of  that  age.  The  Spanish 
grandee  prides  himself  upon  his  Gothic  ancestry,  the 
sangre  assul,  whose  presence  is  presimied  to  indicate 
conclusively  that  in  the  ascending  line  can  be  f  oimd 
no  progenitor  of  the  despised  Semitic  race.  The  fal- 
sity of  this  presumption  was,  however,  established  by 
the  councils  convoked  by  royal  authority  at  Burgos, 
VaUadoUd,  and  Madrid  during  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries,  to  settle  the  question  of  purity 
of  blood.  According  to  the  statutes  adopted  by  these 
Informaciones  de  Nobleza,  as  they  were  called,  de- 
scent from  a  Jewish  ancestor  was  solemnly  declared 
to  be  no  blemish  upon  a  noble  escutcheon,  a  decision 
which  affected  not  a  few  of  the  oldest  and  haughtiest 
f  amihes  of  Castile  and  Aragon. 

There  are  to-day  few  of  the  great  houses  of  Por- 
tugal and  Spain  which  have  not  an  admixture  of 


176  History  of  the 

Hebrew  blood.  Works  have  been  published  by  ecde- 
siastics  tracing  this  contaminated  lineage  to  its  source, 
which  all  the  authority  of  a  despotic  government  was 
not  able  to  suppress.  It  is  said  that  the  Portuguese 
King  Joseph  I.  once  ordered  every  male  of  Jewish 
descent  in  his  dominions  to  wear  a  yellow  hat.  The 
Marquis  of  Pombal  appeared  with  three;  and  on  being 
asked  by  the  King  for  what  use  he  intended  them,  he 
answered,  "  In  obedience  to  the  royal  decree,  I  have 
brought  one  for  Your  Majesty,  one  for  the  Grand 
Inquisitor,  and  one  for  myself."  This  anecdote,  whose 
authenticity  is  well  established,  shows  the  extent  to 
which  the  blood  of  a  once  proscribed  and  persecuted 
people,  despite  all  attempts  at  its  annihilation,  had 
been  infused  into  the  veins  of  the  proudest  and  most 
exclusive  aristocracy  in  Europe. 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  177 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE  CHRISTIANS  UNDER  MOSLEM  RULE 

711-1492 

Scarcity  of  Information  concerning  the  Tributary  Christians — 
Supremacy  of  the  Church  under  the  Visigoths — Indepen- 
dence of  the  Spanish  Hierarchy — Its  Wealth — Civil  Organi- 
sation of  the  Christians  under  the  Moors — Their  Privileges 
— Restrictions  imposed  upon  Them — Freedom  of  Worship— 
Churches^  Monasteries,  and  Convents — Conditions  in  Sicily 
— Greater  Severity  of  the  Laws  in  that  Island — Anomaly 
in  the  Ecclesiastical  Government  of  Spain — The  Ehalif  the 
Virtual  Head  of  the  Church — ^Abuse  of  His  Power — Results 
of  the  Arab  Occupation  of  Septimania — Increased  Authority 
of  the  Spanish  Hierarchy  resulting  from  its  Isolation — 
Social  Life  of  the  Christian  Tributaries — Their  Devotion 
to  Arab  Learning  —  They  are  employed  by  the  Ehalif s 
in  Important  Missions  —  Innate  Hostility  of  Moslem  and 
Christian — Number  and  Influence  of  the  Renegades — The 
Martyrs  —  Causes  of  Persecution  —  Contrast  between  the 
Maxims  and  Policy  of  the  Two  Religions — ^Impediments  to 
Racial  Amalgamation. 

No  portion  of  Spanish  annals  presents  such  diffi- 
culties to  historical  research  as  that  which  relates  to  the 
condition  of  the  Christians  under  the  Moorish  domi- 
nation. Arah  writers,  usually  so  minute  and  circum- 
stantial in  their  narratives,  have  scarcely  mentioned 
the  subject.  The  extraordinary  conduct  of  the 
martyrs,  who  courted  death  by  open  violation  of 
Moslem  law,  seems  alone  to  have  attracted  their  at- 
tention or  deserved  their  notice.  From  this  significant 
silence  the  inference  would  seem  to  be  that  the  great 
mass  of  Christian  tributaries  were  contented  and 
peaceable.  We  learn  from  St.  Eulogius  and  other 
eminent  ecclesiastics  that  the  majority  of  the  con- 
quered race  had  apostatized.    It  is  with  imconcealed 

Vol.  III.— 13 


178  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

feelings  of  sorrow  and  vexation  that  they  refer  to  the 
widespread  defection  from  the  ancient  faith.  Even 
among  those  whose  constancy  was  unshaken,  the 
zealots  were  in  a  minority.  It  is  not  strange,  there- 
fore, that  the  Arabs  should  have  considered  the  latter 
as  irresponsible  persons,  whose  offences,  unpardon- 
able imder  the  Code  of  Islam,  were  punished  because 
the  law  permitted  the  exercise  of  no  discretion  on  the 
part  of  the  magistrate.  It  is  evident  that  those  who 
solicited  the  honors  of  martyrdom  were  not  regarded 
as  representatives  of  either  their  sect  or  their  nation- 
ality. The  Moorish  historians  recount  the  voluntary 
sacrifice  of  those  enthusiasts  with  every  manifestation 
of  wonder  and  pity.  It  was  not  until  their  obstinacy, 
provoking  dissension  and  revolt,  began  to  menace  the 
safety  of  the  government,  that  their  language  reveals 
a  feeling  of  vindictiveness  against  their  misguided 
tributaries. 

On  the  other  hand,  little  information  of  value  is 
to  be  gleaned  from  the  Christian  chroniclers.  Those 
who  have  related  the  events  of  their  times  were  all 
members  of  the  persecuted  faction.  Both  contempo- 
rary and  subsequent  writers  were  blinded  by  prejudice 
and  actuated  by  every  motive  of  sectarian  bigotry  to 
the  perversion  of  the  truth.  Prolix  in  their  enumera- 
tion of  the  sufferings  of  martyrs,  their  accounts  of 
all  other  occurrences  are  remarkable  for  extreme 
meagreness  of  detail.  No  descriptions  are  given  of 
the  social  relations  of  the  dominant  and  subject  races; 
no  direct  mention  is  ever  made  of  the  thousand  inci- 
dents constantly  transpiring  in  the  intercourse  of  the 
two  peoples,  trivial  in  themselves,  yet  most  important 
in  forming  a  correct  idea  of  the  character,  the  aspira- 
tions, and  the  life  of  a  nation.  Such  matters,  so  in- 
teresting to  posterity  as  depicting  the  manners  of  a 
class  during  a  period  conspicuous  in  history,  were  too 
insignificant  for  the  pen  of  the  monkish  annalist,  and 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Europe  179 

must  now  be  gathered  at  random  from  the  narra- 
tives of  other  events,  in  the  elucidation  of  which  they 
have  been  casually  and  imdesignedly  mentioned.  The 
works  of  these  ecclesiastical  writers  are  filled  with 
errors.  They  are,  as  usual,  overloaded  with  absiu*d 
legends  and  spurious  miracles.  It  is  apparent,  even 
from  a  superficial  perusal,  that  not  only  the  sufferings, 
but  the  virtues  of  the  saints  whose  lives  they  describe 
are  largely  fictitious  and  often  exaggerated.  To  such 
authorities,  therefore,  little  credit  can  be  given  by  the 
historian. 

No  people  mentioned  in  history  ever  attained  to  a 
high  rank  in  the  scale  of  civilization  whose  policy  was 
founded  on  the  systematic  repression  of  religious 
opinions.  Theological  intolerance  is  the  most  serious 
of  obstacles  to  intellectual  progress.  Among  the  great 
nations  of  antiquity,  freedom  in  religious  matters  was 
generally  conceded  as  a  matter  of  right.  Where  in- 
vasions of  that  right  occurred,  they  may  almost  in- 
variably be  traced  to  interference  with  the  established 
government.  The  intimate  connection  of  political  and 
religious  institutions  in  those  times  will  readily  account 
for  occasional  examples  of  apparent  persecution.  The 
most  eminent  Athenian  statesmen  not  infrequently 
performed  the  functions  of  priest  in  the  ceremonial 
of  public  worship.  The  title  of  Pontifex  Maximus 
was  one  of  the  most  honorable  and  coveted  of  the 
dignities  of  the  Republic  of  Rome,  and  under  the 
Empire  it  conferred  additional  distinction  upon  the 
attributes  and  the  exercise  of  imperial  power.  Under 
that  wise  and  politic  dispensation,  the  gods  of  foreign 
countries  were  admitted  into  the  national  pantheon  on 
an  equal  footing  with  the  domestic  divinities,  and  none 
could  claim  an  excessive  and  imdue  pre-eminence  in 
the  national  system.  It  was  not  imtil  the  Christians 
profaned  the  altars,  and  excited  mutiny  in  the  army, 
that  their  privileges  were  curtailed  and  their  rehgious 


180  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

ceremonies  interrupted.  The  conditions  formerly 
prevailing  were  then  revolutionized.  Indulgence  was 
followed  by  persecution.  Persecution  disclosed  and 
produced  tens  of  thousands  of  proselytes.  The  ex- 
perience of  the  Christian  sect  suggested  the  perpetua- 
tion in  its  religious  constitution  of  the  incomparable 
political  system  of  the  empire,  a  measure  which  in  the 
end  contributed  so  largely  to  its  success,  its  discipline, 
and  its  permanence.  In  no  country  subject  to  the 
authority  of  the  Papacy  were  the  effects  of  these 
advantages  of  imperial  organization  more  apparent 
than  in  the  Spanish  Peninsula. 

During  the  era  of  Visigothic  supremacy  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Church  was  paramoimt  in  every  depart- 
ment of  the  civil  administration.  Its  councils  regu- 
lated the  succession,  framed  the  laws,  chose  the  sover- 
eign. Its  servants  dictated  every  measure  of  national 
policy.  Its  sanction  imparted  a  sacred  character  to  the 
royal  edicts.  Eminent  prelates,  who  even  in  trivial 
matters  never  permitted  the  pretensions  of  their  order 
to  be  subordinated  to  the  interests  of  the  crown,  con- 
stituted in  reality  the  supreme  power  of  the  state. 
They  negotiated  treaties.  They  participated  in  cam- 
paigns. They  imposed  and  collected  tax^.  In  re- 
peated contests  with  the  nobility  they  generally 
emerged  victorious.  Their  intellectual  acquirements, 
superficial  as  they  were,  gave  them  a  decided  advan- 
tage over  their  illiterate  and  often  brutal  antagonists. 
The  authority  they  obtained  by  superior  knowledge, 
craft,  and  energy  was  in  time  confirmed  by  habit  and 
strengthened  by  prescription.  That  authority,  based 
upon  public  veneration  and  extending  through  coimt- 
less  generations,  has  often  been  shaken,  but  never 
abolished.  The  disastrous  effects  of  its  abuse  are 
apparent  in  every  period  of  Spanish  history  for  more 
than  a  thousand  years. 

At  the  time  of  the  Arab  invasion,  the  Visigothic 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Europe  181 

hierarchy  was  at  the  summit  of  its  importance  and 
power.  Its  former  adherence  to  the  Arian  heresy  had 
engendered  within  it  a  spirit  of  independence,  which 
was  not  relinquished  with  the  return  of  the  Spanish 
Church  to  the  orthodox  conmiimion.  The  facility  with 
which  an  entire  people  at  the  conmiand  of  the  monarch 
renounced  the  faith  of  their  ancestors  for  unfamiliar 
and  hitherto  reprobated  doctrines  is  one  of  the  most 
extraordinary  events  in  the  annals  of  Christianity. 
Such  a  peaceful  revolution,  involving  the  most  sacred 
interests  of  a  nimierous  sect,  affords  incontestable 
proof  of  the  slight  hold  possessed  in  those  times  by 
any  religious  dogma  upon  the  popular  mind.  Witli 
the  acceptance  of  the  Athanasian  creed  was  necessarily 
included  the  acknowledgment  of  Papal  supremacy. 
The  Gothic  prelates,  however,  were  never  obsequious 
vassals  of  the  Holy  See.  The  Pope  soon  f  oimd  that 
while  he  might  solicit,  he  could  not  compel  their  obe- 
dience. His  f  ulminations  did  not  excite  the  terror  in 
Spain  which  they  did  in  other  countries  of  Catholic 
Europe.  Where  he  was  not  able  to  command,  he  was 
forced  to  flatter,  to  recommend,  to  temporize.  A  com- 
pact and  powerful  body  of  ecclesiastics,  in  whose 
hands  were  the  government  of  their  country  and  the 
election  of  its  king,  were  naturally  loath  to  submit  to 
the  arrogant  dictation  of  a  foreign  potentate,  whom 
their  predecessors  had  regarded  as  a  heretic,  and  whose 
faith  they  had  adopted  rather  from  policy  than  from 
sincere  conviction. 

The  Spanish  Church  under  the  Visigoths  was  emi- 
nently worthy  of  the  attention  and  the  favor  of  the 
Holy  Father.  Its  organization  was  thorough;  its 
wealth  enormous;  its  priesthood  numerous  and  supe- 
rior to  their  contemporaries  in  learning  and  ability; 
its  national  influence  unrivalled.  Its  temples,  in  a 
country  whose  public  monuments  had  least  experi- 
enced the  destructive  effects  of  barbarian  violence. 


182  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

exhibited  in  their  noble  proportions  and  harmonious 
decoration  the  expiring  efforts  of  classic  taste  and 
genius.  The  superb  edifices  of  imperial  power,  vis- 
ible on  every  side,  had  been  at  once  the  inspiration 
and  the  models  of  the  ecclesiastical  architect.  The 
chtu-ches  and  cathedrals  of  the  seventh  and  eighth 
centuries  afforded  the  best  examples  of  the  ambition 
and  opulence  of  the  omnipotent  hierarchy.  Their 
plan  was  usually  that  of  the  basilica.  Their  walls 
were  incrusted  with  precious  marbles.  Their  floors 
were  of  mosaic.  In  the  apse,  where  stood  the  altar, 
the  skiU  of  the  artist  exhausted  itself  in  elaborate 
carvings,  paintings,  and  sculpture.  The  sacred  ves- 
sels were  of  solid  gold  and  silver.  Offerings  of  un- 
told value,  the  tribute  of  grateful  convalescents, 
were  suspended  before  the  shrine.  The  accession  of 
each  sovereign  was  marked  by  the  donation  of  a 
magnificent  votive  crown  to  the  Cathedral  of  Toledo. 
The  pomp  of  worship  in  the  Visigothic  metropolis 
exceeded  that  of  all  others,  excepting  Constantinople 
and  Rome.  Its  religious  processions  equalled  in 
splendor  those  which  awakened  the  pious  enthusiasm 
of  the  devout  in  the  metropolitan  churches  of  those 
two  famous  capitals.  The  greatest  deference  was 
paid  to  the  sacerdotal  dignity.  The  congregation, 
when  not  kneeling,  stood  during  the  service.  The 
women,  always  veiled,  occupied  galleries  by  them- 
selves. No  priesthood  in  Christendom  was  treated 
with  more  respect,  enjoyed  more  extensive  privileges, 
or  lived  in  greater  luxury  than  the  Grothic  clergy  of 
Spain. 

With  the  Arab  occupation  this  imposing  fabric  of 
spiritual  and  temporal  grandeur  fell  to  the  ground. 
The  power  of  the  hierarchy,  formerly  unlimited,  van- 
ished in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  Its  sacred  edifices 
were  seized  and  devoted  to  the  sacrilegious  uses  of 
the  conqueror.    The  precious  furniture  of  its  altars 


Moorish  Empire  in  Eueope  188 

was  deposited  in  the  treasury  of  the  khalif .  Its  reve- 
nues were  confiscated.  Many  of  its  members  fell 
victims  to  the  rage  of  oppressed  and  injured  vassals. 
Thousands  of  others  fled  almost  penniless  to  Christian 
lands.  Monks  were  enslaved  and  condemned  to  the 
performance  of  the  most  arduous  and  exhausting 
labors.  Multitudes  of  nuns  passed  from  the  solitude 
and  meditation  of  the  cloister  to  the  revelry  and  de- 
lights of  the  seraglio.  In  view  of  the  popular  opin- 
ions and  prejudices  of  the  time,  it  is  not  singular  that 
this  sudden  and  tremendous  revolution  should  have 
been  universally  attributed  to  the  vengeance  of  God. 

When  the  first  shock  of  conquest  had  passed,  the 
overpowering  terror  inspired  by  the  presence  of  the 
invaders  subsided.  They  proved  to  be  something  very 
different  from  the  incarnate  demons  which  a  distorted 
imagination  had  painted  them.  They  were  f  oimd  to 
be  lenient,  generous,  humane.  The  law  of  Moham- 
med had  specifically  designated  the  privileges  of  vic- 
tory and  the  rights  of  the  vanquished.  The  latter 
were  not  slow  to  recognize  and  accept  the  advantages 
arising  from  a  speedy  and  unreserved  submission,  and 
were  thus  enabled  to  participate  in  the  benefits  of  the 
civilization,  almost  from  the  very  beginning  inaugu- 
rated by  their  rulers. 

The  civil  organization  of  the  Christians  under 
Moslem  domination  differed  little  from  that  under 
which  they  had  been  governed  by  the  princes  of  Visi- 
gothic  blood.  The  amount  of  tribute  which  permitted 
the  free  exercise  of  religious  worship,  the  jurisdiction 
of  their  own  tribunals,  and  the  terms  conferring  the 
preservation  and  enjoyment  of  their  national  customs 
were  definitely  fixed  by  law.  Each  bishopric  was  as- 
sessed at  the  sum  of  one  himdred  ounces  of  silver 
annually,  monasteries  at  fifty,  churches  at  twenty-five. 
Individuals  were  classified  according  to  their  rank  and 
possessions.     The  rich  paid  forty-eight  dirhems,  or 


184  HiSTOEY  OP  THE 

thirty-two  dollars,  per  annum;  the  middle  class, 
twenty-five  dirhems;  the  laborer,  twelve.  From 
owners  of  land  a  tax  upon  its  products  of  twenty 
per  cent.,  called  the  Kharadj,  was  collected.  Apos- 
tasy was  rewarded  by  the  remission  of  the  former;  the 
latter,  however,  was  never  abrogated.  Women,  chil- 
dren, cripples,  beggars,  and  monks  were  exempt  from 
all  enforced  contributions.  Except  in  cases  of  obsti- 
nate resistance,  private  property  was  untouched.  The 
wealth  of  the  diurches,  except  that  of  such  as  were 
expressly  mentioned  in  treaties,  was  legitimate  spoil. 
Under  the  rule  of  the  Visigoths,  the  ownership  of 
chattels  was  only  conditional,  and  they  could  not  be 
alienated;  under  the  Moors,  that  ownership  was  abso- 
lute. The  condition  of  the  serfs  that  cultivated  the 
royal  demesnes — ^whose  area  was  so  vast  that  they 
embraced  the  fifth  part  of  all  confiscated  territory — 
was  greatly  ameliorated.  They  still  surrendered 
thirty-three  per  cent,  of  the  crops,  as  under  their 
former  masters;  but  they  were  freed  from  the  fre- 
quent and  arbitrary  impositions  which  often  deprived 
them  of  the  entire  fruits  of  their  labor.  The  conquest 
had  caused  the  division  of  the  extensive  estates  held 
by  the  privileged  classes,  and  obtained  by  centuries 
of  extortion  and  cruelty,  into  innumerable  farms,  a 
condition  which  facilitated  cultivation  and  increased 
agricultural  wealth.  Many  of  these  lands,  formerly 
devoted  to  pasturage  and  to  the  sports  of  the  nobility, 
were  now  improved,  and  under  tiie  skilful  efforts  of 
Moorish  industry  yielded  immensely  profitable  re- 
turns. 

Each  Christian  community  was  rigidly  isolated 
from  its  Moslem  neighbors.  In  the  large  cities,  the 
quarter  inhabited  by  the  tributaries  was  walled,  and 
at  simset  the  gates  were  closed.  A  count  of  their  own 
selection,  who  was  generally  of  noble  blood,  dis- 
charged the  f imctions  of  governor  and  collected  the 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  186 

taxes,  of  which  he  rendered  an  account  to  the  Divan. 
The  proceedings  of  the  judicial  tribunals  were  con- 
ducted by  Christian  magistrates  under  the  forms  of 
Visigothic  law.  All  disputes  between  Christians  were 
decided  there,  and  criminals  paid  the  penalty  of  their 
misdeeds  as  prescribed  by  the  ancient  statutes.  No 
sentence  of  death,  however,  could  be  executed  without 
the  approval  of  the  Moslem  authorities.  Suits  in 
which  a  Mohammedan  was  a  party,  and  prosecutions 
where  he  was  either  the  participant  in,  or  the  victim 
of,  a  crime,  were  removed  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Christian  courts.  The  Code  of  Islam  prescribed  cer- 
tain regulations  to  be  observed  by  all  tributaries,  and 
obedience  to  which  was  a  consideration  for  the  pro- 
tection which  the  latter  enjoyed.  Blasphemy  of  the 
Prophet  or  of  his  religion,  entrance  into  a  mosque, 
and  apostasy  were  capital  offences.  Upon  these 
points  the  law  was  inexorable.  Violation  of  the 
chastity  of  a  Moslem  woman  was  also  punishable  with 
death,  a  penalty  which,  however,  might  be  averted  by 
the  offender  embracing  the  Mohammedan  faith.  The 
rej)etition  of  the  familiar  formula  of  Islam,  even  in 
jest,  carried  with  it  a  renunciation  of  all  former  creeds, 
and  an  assumption  of  the  responsibilities  of  a  believer 
which  could  never  thereafter  be  relinquished.  These 
laws,  while  apparently  of  a  religious  character,  were, 
owing  to  the  Moslem  constitution  which  united  the 
functions  of  both  spiritual  and  temporal  sovereignty, 
vitally  necessary  to  the  dignity  and  maintenance  of 
government.  Christian  fanatics,  blinded  by  preju- 
dice and  eager  for  martyrdom,  regarded  them  as  un- 
reasonable and  tyrannical  restrictions,  whose  public 
violation  was  a  duty  which  they  owed  to  their  sect; 
meritorious,  not  only  as  evincing  contempt  for  a  de- 
tested religion,  but  as  affording  opportunities  for 
exhibitions  of  self-sacrifice,  certain  to  elicit  the  praise 
of  their  companions,  and  likely  to  deserve  the  coveted 


186  HiSTOKY   OF  THE 

honor  of  canonization.  All,  therefore,  that  was  re- 
quired of  the  Christians  living  under  Moslem  juris- 
diction was  that  they  should  pay  tribute  regularly  and 
obey  the  laws  of  the  land. 

To  instire  the  protection  to  which  they  were  entitled, 
and  to  secure  tiiem  from  insult  and  oppression,  a 
special  magistrate  was  appointed,  under  the  khalif  s, 
to  watch  over  their  interests  and  supervise  their  con- 
duct. This  official,  whose  title  was  that  of  katib,  or 
secretary,  was  invested  with  extraordinary  powers,  and 
was  usually  a  noble  of  distinguished  rank  as  well  a^s  a 
personage  of  high  consideration  in  the  Divan. 

At  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  a  certain  nimaber  of 
churches  were  set  aside  for  Christian  worship ;  but  that 
number  could  not  be  increased,  nor  could  additions  be 
even  made  to  the  ancient  edifices.  In  case  reconstruc- 
tion or  repairs  were  necessary,  the  identical  old  ma- 
terials were  required  to  be  used.  The  stringency  of 
these  rules  was,  however,  often  relaxed  by  the  gen- 
erous indulgence  of  the  authorities.  The  law  which 
forbade  that  a  building  erected  by  a  Christian  should 
be  of  greater  height  than  that  of  a  Moslem  was  also 
frequently  evaded.  In  Spain  and  Sicily  the  towers  of 
church  and  cathedral  often  overtopped  the  minaret  of 
the  mosque,  an  implication  of  superiority  which,  in 
other  countries  of  the  Mohammedan  world,  would 
have  caused  their  instant  demolition.  In  those  two 
kingdoms  of  Islam  alone  the  use  of  bells  was  toler- 
ated. Elsewhere,  boards  suspended  by  cords  and 
beaten  with  mallets  took  their  place  and  announced 
the  opening  of  Christian  service.  The  greatest  liberty 
was  permitted  in  the  exercise  of  public  worship.  The 
clergy  wore  their  sacred  vestments.  They  discharged 
the  duties  of  their  holy  calling  in  peace  and  security, 
and  those  who  ventured  to  interfere  with  them  were 
liable  to  severe  pimishment.  They  celebrated  mass 
with  all  the  pomp  of  the  ancient  Visigothic  ceremonial. 


Moorish  Empire  in  Eueope  187 

The  priest  carried  the  viaticum  to  the  dying,  in  solemn 
procession  tibrough  the  crowded  streets.  The  bodies 
of  the  dead,  enveloped  in  the  smoke  of  tapers  and 
incense,  and  preceded  by  chanting  choristers,  were 
borne  to  the  cathedral  for  the  performance  of  the  final 
rites  of  the  Chm^ch.  The  toleration  of  the  Spanish 
Moslems  even  went  to  the  extent  of  permitting  the 
use  of  images — execrated  as  idolatrous  by  every  fol- 
lower of  the  Prophet — ^in  Christian  temples.  Effigies 
of  saints  were  by  no  means  rare.  In  the  Cathedral  of 
Santa  Maria  at  Cordova  was  a  statue  of  the  Virgin. 
Her  shrine  was  famous  for  its  sanctity,  and,  more 
accessible  than  that  of  Santiago,  yearly  attracted  mul- 
titudes of  devout  pilgrims  from  every  part  of  Europe. 
In  each  church  was  preserved  the  body  of  the  martyr 
to  whom  the  sacred  edifice  was  dedicated,  and  from 
whom  it  derived  its  name.  The  great  city  of  Cordova 
contained  six  Christian  houses  of  worship  besides  the 
cathedral.  Eleven  monasteries  and  convents  offered 
a  refuge  to  those  who  sought  the  devotional  retirement 
of  cloistered  life.  Of  these,  three  were  in  the  city  and 
eight  upon  the  wooded  slopes  of  the  Sierra  Morena. 
Some,  instituted  probably  with  a  view  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  increased  merit  by  resistance  to  constant  temp- 
tation, were  occupied  by  both  sexes  under  a  single 
abbot.  The  monks  appeared  in  cowl  and  tonsiu-e;  the 
nuns  were  constantly  veiled.  All  members  of  the 
monastic  orders,  as  well  as  those  of  the  secular  priest- 
hood, traversed  at  will  and  unmolested  the  streets  of 
the  capital.  St.  Eulogius,  Cyprian,  Samson,  and 
other  contemporaneous  ecclesiastical  writers  bear  re- 
peated and  voluntary  testimony  to  the  indulgent  for- 
bearance extended  to  Christians  by  the  KhaUfs  of 
Cordova. 

In  Sicily,  practically  the  same  conditions  prevailed. 
As,  however,  the  indigenous  population  overwhelm- 
ingly exceeded  in  number  that  of  the  invaders,  tolera- 


188  HiSTOKY  OF  THE 

tion  was  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  public  tran- 
quillity, and  was,  in  fact,  a  measure  of  expediency  as 
well  as  of  justice.  The  civil  organization  of  the 
Byzantine  Empire  was  continued.  The  magistrates 
retained  the  same  titles  and  exercised  the  same  juris- 
diction as  formerly,  subject  always  to  the  supervision 
of  the  officials  of  the  Divan.  The  procedure  of  the 
ancient  tribunals  was  but  slightly  modified.  The 
rights  of  person  and  property  were  fully  recognized. 
Freedom  of  worship  was  guaranteed  to  all  law- 
abiding  tributaries.  Taxation  was  uniform  and 
regular;  the  legal  impositions  were  far  less  onerous 
than  those  exacted  by  the  tyrannical  rapacity  of  the 
Greek  administration.  Under  the  Moors,  all  persons 
whose  condition  or  infirmities  prevented  them  from 
obtaining  a  livelihood  were  exempt;  the  Byzantine 
fiscal  agents  carried  their  merciless  perquisitions  into 
the  abodes  of  helplessness,  disease,  and  destitution. 
The  Moslem  law  regulating  the  distribution  of  estates 
and  the  rights  of  heirs  was  so  admirably  adapted  to 
the  purpose,  that  it  was  continued,  with  trifling  modi- 
fications, by  the  Normans,  after  it  had  been  in  force 
for  nearly  two  centuries.  No  lands  were  confiscated 
but  those  which  had  been  abandoned  by  their  owners. 
The  number  of  these  was  so  great  that  they  ajBTorded 
ample  space  for  the  settlements  of  the  Saracen  colo- 
nists, who  occupied  the  most  valuable  portions  of  the 
States  of  Trapani,  Palermo,  and  Agrigentum. 

The  restrictions  imposed  upon  the  Sicilian  Chris- 
tians were  more  harsh  than  the  requirements  exacted 
of  their  Spanish  brethren.  The  general  provisions  of 
the  Mohammedan  code  relating  to  the  prohibited  acts 
of  misbelievers  were,  of  course,  rigidly  enforced.  The 
Christian  priests  of  Sicily,  like  those  of  Spain,  were 
compelled  to  perform  the  rites  of  their  religion  behind 
closed  doors.  Like  them  also,  they  were  forbidden 
to  publicly  discuss  the  merits  of  their  creed  or  to  at- 


Moorish  Empike  in  Eueope        ^    189 

tempt  to  secure  proselytes.  The  laws  of  that  island, 
considering  the  numerical  weakness  of  the  dominant 
race,  were  strangely  severe.  As  tokens  of  degrada- 
tion, peculiar  marks  were  placed  upon  the  houses  of 
Christians;  they  were  restricted  to  a  costume  distinc- 
tive in  materials  and  color,  and  wore  girdles  of  woollen 
doth  or  leather.  They  were  forbidden  to  moimt  a 
horse,  to  own  saddles,  to  bear  arms.  They  could  not 
use  seals  with  Arabic  inscriptions  or  give  their  children 
Arabic  names.  In  the  streets  they  gave  way  to  their 
Saracen  masters,  and  always  stood  with  bowed  heads 
in  their  presence.  Drinking  wine  in  the  sight  of  a 
Mussulman  was  visited  with  exemplary  punishment. 
No  Christian  woman  was  allowed  to  remain  in  the 
bath  vrith  a  Mohammedan,  even  though  the  latter  were 
one  of  the  humblest  maid-servants  of  the  harem.  If 
one  of  the  tributary  sect  admitted  the  slave  of  a  Mus- 
sulman into  his  house,  he  was  liable  to  a  heavy  fine. 
The  ringing  of  the  bells  of  church  or  monastery 
loudly  was  prohibited,  as  was  also  the  reading  of  the 
Scriptures  in  th§  hearing  of  the  followers  of  the 
Prophet.  No  Christian  could  cross  himself  in  public. 
The  slightest  interference  with  Moslem  worship  was 
punishable  with  death. 

Despite  these  arbitrary  and  often  oppressive  laws, 
the  condition  of  the  Christians  of  Sicily  was,  upon  the 
whole,  far  more  agreeable  and  prosperous  under  the 
Arabs  than  it  had  been  imder  the  Greeks.  Relief 
from  arbitrary  taxation  made  secure  the  profits  of 
industry.  Every  branch  of  commerce  was  open  to  the 
enterprising.  The  system  of  guilds  and  corporations, 
which  had  existed  among  tradesmen  since  the  Roman 
domination,  remained  unimpaired.  If  a  Christian  dis- 
trusted the  integrity  or  capacity  of  his  own  magis- 
trate, he  was  at  liberty  to  submit  his  cause  to  the  kadi, 
who  rendered  judgment  according  to  the  maxims  and 
precedents  of  Moslem  jurisprudence. 


190  HiSTOEY  or  THE 

In  the  Spanish  Peninsula,  the  government  of  the 
Church  presented  a  strange  and  portentous  anomaly. 
As  the  representative  of  Islam  was  a  member  of  the 
family  of  the  Ommeyades,  which  had,  in  the  begin- 
ning, exerted  all  the  influence  of  a  powerful  caste  to 
overwhelm  its  founder  and  render  his  teachings  odious, 
so  now  the  interests  of  Christianity  were  delivered 
over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  its  hereditary  and  most 
unrelenting  foe.  The  Visigothic  sovereigns,  chosen 
by  ecclesiastical  councils,  were,  by  virtue  of  their  elec- 
tion, clothed  with  a  certain  degree  of  sanctity,  and 
enjoyed  an  ample  measure  of  spiritual  power.  The 
monarch  practically  controlled  the  policy  of  the 
Chiu*ch.  His  decision  was  final  in  all  matters  not 
important  enough  to  be  submitted  to  the  assembled 
wisdom  of  the  great  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  of  the 
kingdom.  He  consecrated  bishops.  He  exerdsed 
without  question  the  sacerdotal  rights  of  presenta- 
tion, translation,  investiture.  He  convoked  councils. 
The  fate  of  every  member  of  the  hierarchy,  from 
acolyte  to  archbishop,  was  in  his  hands.  Even  the 
metropolitan  see  of  Toledo,  the  primacy  of  Spain, 
could  not  be  filled  without  his  sanction.  He  could 
appoint  the  most  unworthy  candidate  to  the  most 
exalted  station  in  the  priesthood.  He  could  arbitrarily 
depose  ministers  whose  lives  had  exhibited  the  practice 
of  every  Christian  virtue.  He  interpreted  and  dic- 
tated the  application  of  intricate  points  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal law.  Notwithstanding  the  apparent  ascendency 
of  the  sacerdotal  order  in  the  temporal  affairs  of  the 
government  on  the  one  hand,  it  was  largely  neutral- 
ized on  the  other  by  the  influence  of  the  Crown  over 
the  fortunes  of  the  Church,  an  influence  always 
weighty  and  often  predominant. 

These  prerogatives,  dangerous  to  religious  liberty 
and  liable  to  abuse  even  in  the  hands  of  an  orthodox 
sovereign,  were  transmitted,  in  all  their  force,  to  the 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eueope  191 

Arabian  khalifs,  as  the  lords  of  the  lost  heritage  of 
the  Visigothic  kings.  The  principle  upon  which  such 
authority  could  pass  to  the  head  of  a  hostile  sect, 
whose  sworn  purpose  was  the  annihilation  of  the  very 
religion  whidi  he  was  presumed,  by  virtue  of  his 
office,  in  duty  bound  to  protect,  has  not  been,  and 
never  can  be,  explained  by  any  considerations  of 
honor,  consistency,  or  equity.  It  was  practically  a 
flagrant  usurpation  of  privileges  for  which  the  Mos- 
lem sovereign  could  not  allege  even  a  shadow  of  right. 
It  was  not  conferred  by  conquest.  It  could  not  be 
accounted  for  under  the  color  of  a  legal  fiction.  Su- 
premacy in  ecclesiastical  government,  where  the  prac- 
tice of  public  worship  was  guaranteed  by  treaty,  and 
the  clergy  purchased  by  tribute  the  management  of 
their  affairs  and  the  enforcement  of  discipline,  cer- 
tainly was  not  implied  by  the  fact  that  it  had  been 
enjoyed  by  the  ruling  prince  of  the  vanquished  faith. 
Its  peaceful  exercise  for  centimes — for  its  validity 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  questioned  in  the  writings 
of  even  the  most  bigoted  ecclesiastics — ^is  one  of  the 
most  singular  problems  of  religious  history. 

The  consequences  of  this  anomalous  condition  were, 
as  may  readily  be  conjectured,  fatal  to  the  dignity 
and  order  of  the  Catholic  hierarchy.  The  khalif  was, 
to  all  intents  and  purposes,  the  spiritual  head  of  two 
hostile  religions, — one  of  which  it  was  his  duty,  as  well 
as  his  inclination,  to  exalt;  the  other  of  which  he  was 
prompted  by  the  prejudices  of  race,  inheritance,  and 
belief  to  destroy.  There  were  few  Hispano-Arab 
monarchs  who  did  not  contribute  their  share  to  the 
degradation  of  Christianity.  The  highest  offices  of 
the  Church  were  put  up  at  auction.  The  orthodoxy 
and  fitness  of  the  candidate  were  never  considered ;  his 
qualifications  were  ignored;  and  his  success  was  de- 
pendent upon  the  amount  he  was  willing  to  disburse 
for  the  coveted  dignity.    In  this  scandalous  traffic  the 


192    •  History  of  the 

women  of  the  harems  and  the  emiuchs  were  the  recog- 
nized agents  of  the  purchaser.  There. was  no  secrecy 
about  these  transactions.  The  practice  of  simony  was 
so  imiversal  that  even  the  greatest  oflTenders  made  no 
attempt  to  conceal  it.  A  profligate  canon,  named 
Saul,  entered  into  a  written  obligation  to  pay  these 
corrupt  intermediaries  four  hundred  ounces  of  silver 
for  the  bishopric  of  Cordova.  Some  of  those  raised 
to  the  richest  sees  of  the  Peninsula  were  heretics  or 
infidels.  It  was  not  unusual  for  a  prelate,  even  dur- 
ing Holy  Week,  to  abandon  the  service  of  the  altar 
and  indidge  in  the  most  shameless  excesses  of  drunk- 
enness and  debauchery.  The  ordinances  of  the 
Church  were  interpreted  by  men  ignorant  of  the  first 
rudiments  of  ecclesiastical  law.  Priests,  whose  athe- 
ism was  notorious,  administered  the  sacraments  with 
mock  humility  and  imparted  hypocritical  consolation 
to  the  devout.  If  any  of  his  flock  eluded  the  search 
of  the  tax-collector,  the  bishop,  more  faithful  to  the 
power  to  which  he  owed  his  authority  than  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  congregation  over  which  he  presided, 
stood  ready  to  furnish  the  desired  information  from 
the  registers  of  the  diocese,  and  to  assist  in  the  punish- 
ment of  the  delinquents.  When  a  prelate  disregarded 
the  summons  to  a  council,  the  vacancy  was  filled  by  the 
appointment  of  a  Mussulman  or  a  Jew.  Such  circum- 
stances as  these  were  not  propitious  to  either  sacer- 
dotal welfare  or  successful  proselytism. 

Nor  were  abuses  of  power  confined  to  the  ecclesi- 
astical system.  The  dignity  of  count,  the  most  emi- 
nent office  of  the  Christian  magistracy,  was  also  a  sub- 
ject of  negotiation  and  barter.  The  opportunities  it 
aflTorded  for  extortion  and  peculation  made  it  one  of 
the  most  lucrative  employments  in  the  gift  of  the 
khalif .  It  was  ordinarily  bestowed  upon  a  member 
of  the  Visigothic  nobility,  but  the  rapacity  of  the 
eunuchs  looked  rather  to  the  means  than  to  the  birth 


1 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope         •    198 

of  the  aspirant;  and  persons  of  base  origin  and 
doubtful  integrity  not  infrequently  received  the 
coveted  distinction,  which  was  utilized  largely  for 
the  benefit  of  their  patrons, — ^the  fiscal  oflSicers  and 
the  degraded  servitors  of  the  harem.  Count  Servan- 
dus,  the  son  of  a  slave,  who  lived  during  the  reign 
of  the  Khalif  Mohammed,  has  been  handed  down  to 
the  execration  of  all  good  Christians  as  one  of  the 
most  cruel  and  infamous  of  oppressors.  On  a  single 
occasion,  he  extorted  from  his  imhappy  vassals  the 
enormous  sum  of  a  himdred  thousand  solidi,  equal  in 
our  time  to  more  than  half  a  million  dollars. 

The  various  gradations  of  the  hierarchy  were  pre- 
served as  before  the  Arab  occupation.  The  arch- 
bishops had  the  usual  number  of  suffragans  subject 
to  their  jurisdiction;  the  lower  orders  of  the  clergy, 
their  clerks,  choristers,  readers,  and  other  subordi- 
nates. To  exercise  the  oflBce  of  priest  it  was  neces- 
sary for  both  parents  to  be  of  the  Christian  faith; 
if  the  father  were  a  Moslem,  the  law  of  the  conqueror 
interposed  its  claim  upon  the  candidate,  who,  regarded 
as  a  Mussulman  by  birth,  was  liable  to  condemnation 
for  apostasy.  Unlike  the  canonical  practice  of  other 
Catholic  countries,  an  ecclesiastic  was  eligible  to 
offices  of  the  most  distinguished  rank,  even  to  the 
primacy  itself,  without  being  compelled  to  pass 
through  the  intermediate  grades  of  the  priesthood. 
There  was  no  diminution  of  pomp  or  solemnity  in 
the  celebration  of  the  rites  of  Christian  worship. 
Councils  for  the  regulation  of  church  government 
and  discipline  were  even  more  frequent  than  under 
the  Visigoths;  during  the  ninth  century,  three  were 
held  at  Cordova  alone  in  less  than  thirty-five  years. 
In  many  of  the  monasteries,  schools  were  established 
for  the  commimication  of  instruction,  on  both  sacred 
and  profane  subjects,  to  those  whose  religious  scruples 
prevented  them  from  profiting  by  the  splendid  oppor- 

Vol.  hi.— 13 


194  History  of  the 

tunities  afforded  by  the  great  Arab  institutions  of 
learning.  In  some  of  these  religious  houses  were  ex- 
tensive libraries,  composed  for  the  most  part,  however, 
of  treatises  of  patristic  science,  polemics,  and  hagiol- 
ogy.  To  St.  Eulogius,  alarmed  by  the  increasing  in- 
fluence of  the  Mussulman  academies,  which  offered 
irresistible  attractions  to  the  Christian  youth,  is  due 
the  credit  of  having  introduced  to  the  notice  of  his 
coimtrymen  the  works  of  Horace,  Virgil,  Juvenal,  and 
others  of  the  Latin  classics,  copies  of  which  he  obtained 
during  a  visit  to  Navarre. 

In  Spain,  as  in  Sicily,  the  influence  of  the  Holy 
See  disappeared  with  the  advent  of  Moslem  suprem- 
acy. The  clergy  of  the  khalif  ate  became  independent 
of  the  Papacy,  and  did  not  even  recognize  the  au- 
thority of  the  Asturian  priesthood,  whose  members 
held  councils  and  promulgated  canons,  with  a  nominal 
allegiance  to  Rome.  In  the  abeyance  of  Papal  repre- 
sentation, the  Metropolitan  of  Toledo  was  the  su- 
preme head  of  the  Spanish  hierarchy.  The  Christians 
of  Sicily  acknowledged  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Patri- 
arch of  Constantinople.  During  the  Moorish  occupa- 
tion of  Southern  France,  the  existing  religion  was 
scarcely  interfered  with.  No  coimts  were  appointed 
to  govern  or  oppress  the  conquered.  No  unworthy 
prelates  were  assigned  to  rich  sees  as  the  result  of 
intrigue  or  corruption.  Few  churches  were  trans- 
formed into  mosques.  The  only  attempt  to  restrain 
the  Christian  tributaries  was  shown  by  a  disposition 
to  isolate,  as  far  as  possible,  the  clergy  of  the  pro- 
vincial settlements  from  those  of  the  larger  towns. 
The  tolerance  of  Mussulman  rule  is  disclosed  by  the 
great  preponderance  of  the  subject  race  existing  at 
Narbonne,  which  was  always  ratiier  a  Christian  than 
a  Moslem  capital. 

The  long  independence  of  the  Spanish  Church  ex- 
erted no  inconsiderable  influence  upon  its  subsequent 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  195 

history.  Its  isolation  enabled  it  to  preserve  uncon- 
taminated  the  ancient  forms  and  discipline  transmitted 
by  ecclesiastical  tradition  from  apostolic  times.  The 
authority  of  its  comicils  or  the  validity  of  their  canons 
was  never  questioned  by  the  most  exacting  digni- 
taries of  the  Roman  hierarchy  after  it  had  again  ac- 
knowledged the  jurisdiction  of  the  Papal  See.  Its 
orthodoxy  was  never  impeached.  While  Europe  was 
distracted  by  heresy,  no  daring  religious  innovator 
threatened  the  integrity  or  disputed  the  power  of  the 
ecclesiastical  government  of  the  Peninsula.  Its  policy 
was  inimical  to  change  in  organization,  in  ceremonial, 
in  doctrine.  Of  all  the  religious  ceremonials  in  Chris- 
tendom its  liturgy  showed  the  least  alteration,  not  even 
excepting  that  used  in  St.  Peter's  at  Rome.  When 
in  1067  King  Alfonso  of  Leon  submitted  the  rival 
claims  of  the  Gothic  and  Roman  rituals  first  to  the 
wager  of  battle  and  then  to  the  ordeal  of  fire,  the 
Christians  of  Arabian  Spain  resolutely  adhered  to  the 
ancient  and  time-honored  formulary.  The  only 
schisms  recorded  were  those  which  sprang  from  the 
conflicting  ambition  of  rival  prelates.  Under  the 
iron  rule  of  the  khalif  s  no  irregular  councils  assembled 
to  disturb  the  harmony  or  excite  the  doubts  of  the 
Faithful.  The  principal  abuse  that  existed  was  the 
fraudulent  manufacture  of  charters,  and  the  multi- 
tude of  these  pious  forgeries  whose  spurious  character 
has  been  exposed  indicate  at  once  the  ease  with  which 
such  documents  could  be  issued,  as  well  as  the  profit 
that  must  have  attended  their  fabrication.  The  gen- 
erally undisturbed  condition  of  the  Mozarabes  under 
the  sway  of  the  House  of  Ommeyah  is  the  best  evi- 
dence of  their  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty. 

Their  social  customs  and  mode  of  life  show  in 
many  particulars  a  close  affiliation  with  their  masters. 
They  had  forgotten  the  rude  idiom  of  their  fathers. 


196  History  of  the 

Arabic  was  the  language  in  common  use  among  all 
classes  of  the  tributary  population,  both  Jew  and 
Christian.  It  was  an  indispensable  requisite  of  offi- 
cial position  that  the  incumbent  should  possess  a  com- 
petent knowledge  of  that  tongue.  St.  Eulogius  re- 
peatedly deplores  the  fact  that  its  prevalence  was 
universal  in  the  Peninsula.  Its  popularity  increased 
with  time,  and  was  so  great  during  the  domination  of 
the  Almoravides  that  the  Archbishop  of  Seville  caused 
the  Bible  to  be  translated  into  Arabic,  in  order  that 
it  might  be  intelligible  to  the  priests  of  his  diocese. 
The  peculiar  phrases  of  Moslem  intercourse,  such  as 
"  God  preserve  you  I"  "  May  you  rest  in  heaven  1"  con- 
stantly on  the  lips  of  the  reverent  Mohammedan, 
formed  part  of  the  daily  greetings  of  every  Christian. 
They  gave  their  children  Arabic  names.  Their  attire 
and  their  furniture  were  similar  to  thoise  of  the  domi- 
nant race.  The  conspicuous  tokens  of  degradation 
imposed  upon  the  Mozarabes  of  Sicily  were  unknown 
in  Spain  even  under  the  Almoravide  bigots.  The  con- 
fidence reposed  in  their  fidelity,  and  the  respect  with 
which  their  courage  was  regarded,  were  evinced  by 
their  constant  enrolment  in  the  body-guard  of  the 
khalif s.  Partly  from  a  desire  to  propitiate  the  favor 
of  their  rulers,  and  perhaps  through  conviction  of  their 
physiological  benefits,  they  abstained  from  pork,  and 
adopted  the  rite  of  circumcision, — concessions  whidi, 
once  granted,  practically  left  the  repetition  of  the 
Moslem  formula  the  sole  remaining  barrier  between 
the  followers  of  Christ  and  the  sectaries  of  Moham- 
med. These  practices,  elsewhere  unknown  to  the 
Christian  communities  of  Eiu-ope,  excited  the  wonder 
and  abhorrence  of  the  stout  old  monk,  John  de  Gorza, 
ambassador  of  the  German  Emperor  to  the  court  of 
Abd-al-Rahman.  He  denounced  them  in  unmeasured 
terms  to  the  Archbishop  of  Cordova,  who  excused  their 
observance  under  the  plea  of  necessity,  and  as  customs 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  197 

long  countenanced  by  the  Church,  a  statement  which 
indicates  that  in  the  tenth  century  they  had  already 
been  in  use  for  many  generations.  In  a  spirit  of 
charity,  greatly  at  variance  with  the  intolerant  hatred 
displayed  towards  the  Moors  in  subsequent  ages, 
prayers  were  regulariy  offered  for  the  khalif  in  every 
Christian  church  of  Arabian  Spain. 

Every  circumstance  relating  to  the  habits  and  inter- 
course of  the  two  races  which  has  come  down  to  us 
proves  that,  openly  at  least,  they  did  not  consider  each 
other  as  enemies.  Great  numbers  of  Christians  em- 
braced with  eagerness  the  extraordinary  educational 
benefits  afforded  by  the  schools  and  academies  of  the 
khalif  ate.  The  University  of  Cordova,  open  to  indi- 
viduals of  every  rank,  creed,  and  nationality,  was  at- 
tended by  Christian  students,  not  only  resident  in  the 
Peninsula,  but  attracted  from  almost  every  country  of 
Europe.  The  infidel  doctrines  taught  in  that  famous 
institution  had  long  provoked  the  animadversion  of 
Moslem  theologians;  but  the  prejudices  they  excited 
among  orthodox  Mussulmans  were  far  less  intense  and 
bitter  than  the  aversion  entertained  towards  the  pro- 
fessors of  these  opinions  by  the  Catholic  clergy.  In- 
termarriages were  frequent,  although  public  senti- 
ment, as  well  as  the  policy  of  Islam,  discouraged  such 
alliances.  A  far  greater  niraiber  of  women  than  of 
men  renounced  their  ancestral  faith  in  consequence  of 
these  unions,  and  the  majority  of  proselytes  were  those 
who  embraced  the  religion  of  Mohammed. 

Important  civil  employments  were  repeately  con- 
ferred upon  Christians  eminent  for  their  talents  and 
integrity.  The  expostulations  of  the  f aquis  and  the 
united  influence  of  the  Divan  were  hardly  sufiicient 
to  prevent  Abd-al-Rahman  III.  from  appointing  a 
renegade,  whose  parents  were  both  Christians,  to  the 
oflBce  of  Grand  Kadi  of  Cordova,  the  highest  judicial 
position  of  the  empire.    The  latter  monarch  habitu- 


198  History  op  the 

ally  employed  Christian  prelates  in  missions  requiring 
the  exercise  of  the  greatest  tact  and  ability.  Rabi, 
Archbishop  of  Cordova,  was  sent  on  different  occa- 
sions as  envoy  to  the  courts  of  Germany  and  Con- 
stantinople. It  was  he  who  was  intrusted  with  the 
conveyance  of  valuable  gifts  from  the  Emperor  of 
the  East  to  the  Khalif,  among  them  the  foiuitains 
of  the  palace  of  Medina-al-Zahra.  The  Bishop  of 
Granada  was  selected  to  secure  the  withdrawal  by  the 
German  Emperor  of  the  scurrilous  letter  which  the 
fanatic  John  de  Gorza  was  charged  to  deliver,  a  task 
of  great  responsibility  and  one  which  few  were  either 
competent  or  willing  to  imdertake.  Another  prelate 
of  episcopal  rank  was  also  despatched  by  Abd-al-Rah- 
man  to  congratulate  Otho  on  his  victory  over  the 
Himgarians.  The  predilection  of  Ali  for  members 
of  the  nominally  prescribed  sect  constantly  aroused  the 
indignation  and  alarm  of  the  Almoravide  zealots. 

Christians  were  not  excluded  from  the  most  respon- 
sible posts  of  the  Moorish  fiscal  administration.  They 
discharged  with  skill  and  fidelity  the  duties  connected 
with  all  the  various  employments  of  the  revenue.  To 
members  of  their  sect  was  invariably  committed  the 
collection  of  the  tribute  due  from  their  coreligionists. 
Thousands  of  them  served  in  the  Mussulman  armies. 
When  Barcelona  was  besieged  by  the  Franks,  the 
Christian  residents  of  that  city  fought  side  by  side 
with  the  Moslems  against  the  orthodox  King  of  Aqui- 
taine.  Of  all  nationalities,  the  Spanish  Christians 
were  considered  most  worthy  to  guard  the  sacred  per- 
son of  the  khalif.  At  no  period  of  the  Arab  domina- 
tion were  they  absolutely  excluded  from  court.  Under 
the  administration  of  the  Almoravide  sultan,  Ali,  who 
was  conspicuous  among  the  fanatical  princes  of  his 
line  for  the  strictness  of  his  orthodoxy  and  the  au- 
sterity of  his  manners,  the  Mozarabes  were  in  high 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubope  199 

favor,  and  exerted  an  almost  preponderating  influence 
in  the  government. 

Although  in  theory  belonging  to  an  inferior  caste, 
in  fact  the  tributary  could  not,  by  the  unpractised  eye, 
be  distinguished  from  the  votary  of  Islam.  His  life, 
his  habits,  his  language,  were  the  same.  His  house 
was  an  exact  coimterpart  of  that  of  his  Moorish  neigh- 
bor; his  garments  were  cut  after  the  pattern  of  the 
Orient.  His  manners  were  no  longer  suggestive  of  the 
rudeness  of  his  Gothic  ancestors.  When  his  means 
permitted,  he  went  to  great  lengths  in  the  gratification 
of  propensities  censured  by  the  canons  of  his  Church, 
— entertained  catamites,  indulged  in  polygamous  prac- 
tices, and  filled  his  harem  with  female  slaves  guarded 
by  retinues  of  eunuchs. 

But  while  the  line  of  demarcation  between  Moslem 
and  Christian  was  thus  faintly  drawn,  and  threatened, 
in  the  course  of  time,  to  entirely  disappear  through  the 
fusion  of  the  two  races,  there  irtill  existed  in  the  minds 
not  only  of  the  zealots  of  the  hostile  sects,  but  also 
in  those  of  the  masses,  a  profound  and  irreconcilable 
antipathy.  This  prejudice  was  sedulously  and  suc- 
cessfully nourished  by  the  Mohammedan  faquis  as 
well  as  by  the  Christian  clergy.  The  tributaries,  while 
apparently  on  the  point  of  merging  into  the  body  of 
the  conquerors,  were  in  reality  isolated  from  them  by 
the  most  powerful  emotions  that  can  influence  the 
human  heart.  No  concessions  could  thoroughly  eradi- 
cate the  prejudices  arising  from  difi^erence  of  religious 
belief.  No  familiarities  of  social  intercourse  could 
banish  the  humiliating  remembrance  of  conquest.  No 
political  honors  could  compensate  for  the  injuries  in- 
flicted by  racial  animosity.  The  actual  condition  of 
the  Spanish  Christians  was,  therefore,  the  reverse  of 
that  exhibited  by  their  daily  life.  In  the  presence  of 
a  mutual  antagonism,  all  the  more  violent  for  being 
repressed,  there  could  be  no  thorough  amalgamation 


200  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

of  races.  The  exalted  spirit  of  religious  enthusiasm 
which  could  voluntarily  solicit  the  tortures  of  martyr- 
dom was  not  propitious  to  national  apostasy. 

And  yet  the  circumstances  which  appear  most  con- 
spicuous and  vital  in  the  consideration  of  this  ethno- 
logical paradox  would  seem  to  point  to  an  opposite 
conclusion.  A  conmiunity  of  customs  generally  ex- 
isted in  which  those  of  the  Arah  always  predominated. 
The  harems  of  the  Moslems  were  filled  with  Chris- 
tian maidens  who  had,  without  hesitancy  or  compen- 
sation, renounced  the  faith  of  their  fathers.  The  cor- 
rupted Latin  dialect  of  the  Visigoths,  proscribed  by 
Hischem  I.,  was  almost  extinct.  The  law  forbade  it 
to  be  either  written  or  spoken;  and  it  survived  only 
in  the  massive  volimies  of  the  Fathers  or  in  the 
secluded  intercourse  of  the  occupants  of  monasteries 
and  convents.  By  the  same  decree  of  the  Elialif ,  edu- 
cation in  the  Arabian  schools  was  made  compulsory. 
Alvarus,  who  wrote  about  the  middle  of  the  ninth 
century,  declares  that  not  one  Christian  could  be  found 
among  a  thousand  who  could  compose  a  letter  in  Latin. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  popularity  of  the  Arab  writers, 
and  the  enthusiasm  with  which  their  compositions  were 
perused  by  persons  of  all  ages,  were  in  the  eyes  of 
pious  ecclesiastics  a  national  scandal.  The  growing 
inclination  to  apostasy,  the  natural  result  of  these 
associations,  was  also  one  of  the  crowtiing  grievances 
of  the  Spanish  clergy.  As  heretofore  stated,  it  is  a 
fact,  well  established  by  the  reluctant  testimony  of  the 
Fathers  themselves,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  con- 
quered nation  had  fallen  away  from  Christianity. 

Many  causes  had  conspired  to  produce  this  lament- 
able condition  of  affairs.  The  geographical  isolation 
of  the  Peninsula,  which  has  always  had  a  tendency 
to  preserve  imaltered  the  mental  and  physical  char- 
acteristics of  its  people,  has  also  had  no  unimportant 
influence  upon  the  national  faith.    That  country,  even 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  201 

at  the  time  of  the  Saracen  invasion,  was  Christian  only 
in  name.  It  had  never  wholly  discarded  its  Pagan 
forms  or  traditions.  It  was  the  last  kingdom  of  Eu- 
rope to  nominally  accept  the  new  religion.  Its  creed 
had  long  been  heretodox,  and  that  creed  it  had  aban- 
doned, without  remonstrance  or  regret,  at  the  com- 
mand of  its  sovereign.  The  despotic  power  of  the 
hierarchy  had  never  been  able  to  abolish  the  ceremonies 
of  Pagan  antiquity  which  were  incorporated  with  the 
ritual  of  the  Church.  The  population,  the  offspring 
of  a  score  of  nations,  each  of  which  worshipped  dif- 
ferent divinities  and  was  familiar  with  the  fraudulent 
pretensions  of  many  sacerdotal  claimants  to  inspira- 
tion, was  inclined  to  discredit  and  deride  them  all.  To 
such  a  society  religious  professions  and  formalities 
were  naturally  matters  of  indifference.  A  nation 
which  could  spontaneously  abandon  the  heresy  of 
Arius  would  hardly  hesitate  to  embrace  the  monothe- 
istic doctrines  of  Mohammed.  By  the  Moslems,  so 
far  as  their  tributaries  were  concerned,  no  open  induce- 
ments were  offered  for  apostasy.  The  practice  of 
Islam  discouraged  the  active  proselytism  advocated  by 
other  sects.  The  conversion  of  a  Christian  tributary, 
unless  he  had  violated  the  law,  must  be  volimtary, 
and  the  obligation,  once  assumed,  could  never  be 
renoimced. 

The  favor  enjoyed  by  the  renegade  was,  however,  a 
far  more  powerful  incentive  than  any  that  the  prom- 
ises of  the  ministers  of  religion  could  evoke.  The 
apostate  was  at  once  received  into  full  social  com- 
munion with  his  former  masters.  He  was  eligible  to 
the  highest  political  and  military  honors.  In  theory, 
at  least,  no  stigma  could  attach  to  his  former  condition 
or  antecedents.  The  equality  of  all  men  who  pro- 
fessed belief  in  its  dogmas  was,  as  is  well  known,  the 
cardinal  principle  of  the  law  of  the  Prophet. 

To  the  slave,  these  considerations  appealed  with 


202  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

peculiar  force.  Tens  of  thousands  of  this  oppressed 
and  degraded  caste  had  been  transferred,  at  a  single 
stroke  by  the  fortunes  of  war,  from  the  hands  of  one 
master  to  those  of  another.  A  host  of  captives  had 
been  taken  in  battle.  In  the  minds  of  but  few  of 
these  unfortunates  the  obligations  of  religion  were 
deeply  founded.  While  emancipation  did  not  invari- 
ably follow  the  profession  of  the  faith  of  Islam,  it 
usually  did;  and  the  condition  of  the  slave  was  always 
greatly  improved  by  this  concession  to  the  prejudices 
of  him  who  regulated  his  conduct  and  controlled  his 
destiny.  In  view  of  these  facts,  there  is  little  wonder 
that  multitudes  of  slaves  embraced  the  Mussulman 
doctrines. 

The  religious  freedom  of  the  Christians  under  Mos- 
lem rule  was  mainly  dependent  on  the  prejudices  of 
their  own  clergy,  the  character  of  the  dominant  fac- 
tion, and  the  temper  of  the  sovereign.  The  provisions 
of  the  treaties  which  guaranteed  their  privileges  were 
at  first  strictly  observed.  The  general  influx  of 
fanatical  foreigners,  in  time,  however,  created  a  strong 
public  sentiment  against  the  proscribed  tributaries. 
They  were  sometimes  deprived  of  their  houses  of 
worship.  Arbitrary  contributions  were  frequently 
exacted  from  them.  On  one  occasion,  the  Christians 
of  Cordova  were  compelled  to  pay  into  the  treasury 
the  sum  of  a  hundred  thousand  pieces  of  gold,  nearly 
a  million  and  a  quarter  dollars.  The  revenues  of  the 
Church  were  so  impaired  by  these  grievous  imposi- 
tions, that  ecclesiastics  were  often  forced  to  engage 
in  commercial  pursuits  to  provide  for  the  pressing 
necessities  of  their  order.  Some  carried  the  manu- 
factures of  Cordova  to  Germany.  Others  journeyed 
as  peddlers  through  France.  The  trading  priest  of 
Moorish  Spain  was  well  known  in  the  markets  of 
Genoa  and  Constantinople.  Persons  in  cleriqal  garb 
were  no  longer  safe  in  public  places.    In  the  time  of 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  208 

the  Almoravides,  when  a  Christian  passed  through  the 
streets,  the  crowd  shrank  from  contact  with  him  as 
from  one  stricken  with  the  plague.  Religious  proces- 
sions were  pelted  by  mobs  of  hooting  children,  and 
those  who  took  part  in  them  were  fortunate  if  they 
escaped  without  serious  personal  injury.  The  ring- 
ing of  the  church-bells  provoked  the  loud  threats  and 
curses  of  intemperate  zealots.  The  breaking  up  of  a 
congregation  during  Holy  Week  was  often  the  signal 
for  a  riot.  The  vengeance  of  Allah  upon  the  idolater 
was  invoked  by  the  scoffing  bystanders  when  the  corpse 
of  a  Christian  was  consigned  to  the  grave. 

The  clergy,  against  whom  these  insults  were  prin- 
cipally aimed,  were  naturally  exasperated  by  the  in- 
dignity suff^ered  by  their  creed  and  their  profession. 
Their  ignorance,  in  spite  of  the  example  and  the  bene- 
fits of  Moslem  civilization  ever  before  their  eyes,  was 
not  less  dense  than  that  of  their  brethren  of  Catholic 
Europe.  With  every  opportunity  to  familiarize  them- 
selves with  the  tenets  of  Islam,  and  thoroughly  con- 
versant with  Arabic,  they  steadfastly  declined  to  honor 
the  alleged  revelations  of  the  Prophet  with  their  atten- 
tion or  perusal.  Their  opinions  on  this  subject  they 
obtained  from  the  writings  of  fanatical  monks,  fully 
as  ignorant  as,  and  even  more  bigoted  than,  themselves. 
The  sage  conclusion  which  they  arrived  at  from  these 
researches  was  that  the  doctrines  of  the  most  uncom- 
promising of  monotheists  and  image-breakers  were 
Pagan  and  idolatrous. 

Apprehensive  of  violence  if  they  ventured  to  show 
themselves  in  public,  they  remained  almost  constantly 
in  the  seclusion  of  their  dwellings.  Even  the  sacred 
calls  of  duty  remained  unanswered.  Often,  for  weeks, 
mass  was  not  celebrated.  The  pulpit  and  the  con- 
fessional were  deserted.  The  djring  passed  away 
imshriv^n.  Maddened  by  rage  and  terror,  they  were 
scarcely  accessible  even  to  their  sympathizing  parish- 


204  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

ioners,  who  themselves  incurred  the  risk  of  ill-treat- 
ment from  the  populace  in  their  visits  to  the  episcopal 
palace  and  the  parsonage.  Brooding  over  tiheir 
wrongs,  encouraged  hy  the  promises  and  exhortations 
of  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  wresting  the  texts  of 
Scripture  to  their  purpose,  fasting  many  consecu- 
tive days,  praying  for  hours  at  a  time,  exliausted  by 
penance,  their  enthusiasm  became  wrought  up  to  the 
highest  pitch.  From  such  a  condition  the  progress  to 
martyrdom  is  easy. 

The  persecution  of  the  Christians  of  Spain  was  in- 
flicted, for  the  most  part,  under  the  reigns  of  Abd-al- 
Bahman  II.  and  Mohanmied.  The  annoyances  to 
which  they  were  subjected  were  by  no  means  so  seri- 
ous as  they  subsequently  became,  when  the  influence 
of  the  Africans  preponderated.  The  word  persecu- 
tion, implying  as  it  does  the  tyrannical  abuse  of  su- 
perior power,  is  not  applicable  to  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  Mozarabes  were  sent  to  the  scaffold. 
They  were  rather  criminals  than  martyrs.  They  vol- 
untarily offered  themselves  for  the  sacrifice.  They 
denoimced  the  religion  of  Islam  as  false  and  idola- 
trous. They  reviled  the  name  of  the  Prophet.  They 
rushed  into  the  mosques.  When  the  voice  of  the  muez- 
zin resoimded  from  the  minaret,  they  crossed  them- 
selves, and  cried  out,  "  Save  us,  O  Lord,  from  the  call 
of  the  Evil  One,  both  now  and  in  eternity!"  In  their 
eagerness  to  court  destruction,  they  pushed  their  way 
into  the  tribunals,  and,  in  the  presence  of  the  judge, 
gave  utterance  to  their  blasphemies.  Even  the  ma- 
jesty of  the  throne  was  not  respected  by  these  frantic 
enthusiasts.  St.  Pelayus  called  the  Khalif  a  dog  to 
his  face.  St.  Isaac,  not  content  with  heaping  abuse  on 
Mohammed,  grossly  insulted  the  Grand  Kadi  of  Cor- 
dova. Such  offences  were  capital  under  the  law,  and 
admitted  of  neither  extenuation  nor  pardon. 

At  first,  the  magistrates,  moved  by  astonishment 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  205 

and  compassion,  refused  to  condemn  persons  whose 
actions  seemed  attributable  only  to  intoxication  or 
insanity.  But  the  deluded  wretches  would  accept  no 
indulgence.  Thrown  into  prison,  they  continued  their 
revilings.  Their  spurious  zeal,  mistaken  constancy, 
and  self-inflicted  tortures  produced  many  imitators. 
Their  cells  became  places  of  pilgrimage.  From  them 
each  day  went  forth  new  candidates  for  pious  consid- 
eration, fresh  victims  for  the  executioner.  Some  were 
hanged,  others  beheaded.  Not  a  few  were  burned  at 
the  stake  and  their  ashes  cast  into  the  river.  The  bitter 
feelings  engendered  by  religious  controversy  were  not 
confined  to  Mohammedans.  The  ties  of  blood  seemed 
for  a  time  forgotten  or  ignored.  The  hiding-places 
of  the  accused  were  revealed  by  their  own  kindred. 
Brothers  and  sisters  denounced  each  other  for  the  sake 
of  the  property  they  might  inherit.  But  the  punish- 
ment only  aggravated  the  evil.  The  number  of 
martyrs  constantly  multiplied.  A  great  many  of  these 
came  from  the  laity.  Youths  of  tender  age  excited  the 
wonder  and  admiration  of  the  devout  by  the  boldness 
of  their  utterances  and  the  unflinching  courage  with 
which  they  met  their  fate.  Delicate  women  walked 
barefoot  for  leagues,  nominally  to  share  the  glory  of 
dying  for  the  Faith,  in  reality  to  solicit  the  infliiction 
of  the  extreme  penalty  of  violated  law. 

The  contagion  of  example  spread  fast  through  the 
Christian  community  of  Cordova.  No  distinction  was 
now  so  honorable  as  to  stand  in  the  foremost  rank  of 
the  blasphemers  of  the  Prophet.  In  this  pious  and 
meritorious  performance,  the  secular  clergy  were, 
however,  not  conspicuous.  Their  lives  were  entirely 
too  precious  to  be  endangered  so  long  as  members  of 
their  flocks  were  eager  to  demonstrate  their  willing- 
ness to  die  for  a  perverted  religious  principle,  involv- 
ing an  unprovoked  breach  of  the  contract  from  which 
they  derived  security  of  worship,  hfe,  and  property. 


206  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

In  secret,  they  promoted  the  increasing  madness  by 
prayer  and  vehement  exhortation.  The  impulse  to 
the  spirit  of  spontaneous  martyrdom  was  not  a  little 
stimulated  by  the  honors  paid  to  the  victims.  Inde- 
pendent of  both  Roman  and  Asturian  influence,  the 
Andalusian  hierarchy  conferred  without  delay  the 
distinction  of  canonization  upon  each  aspirant  for 
celestial  glory.  Their  remains  were  conveyed  to  the 
churches,  where  they  at  once  began  to  disclose  their 
supernatural  powers  by  response  to  prayer,  by  the 
cure  of  disease,  by  the  working  of  portentous  and 
astonishing  miracles. 

The  Moslem  authorities  were  appalled  by  the 
strange  conduct  of  their  tributaries,  insensible  alike 
to  the  inducement  of  clemency  or  the  dread  of  pun- 
ishment. In  the  hope  of  abating  the  evil  by  smnmary 
measures,  Abd-al-Rahman  II.  authorized,  by  public 
edict,  any  one  to  kill  on  the  instant  a  Christian  who 
was  guilty  of  blasphemy.  This  decree,  while  not  fully 
accomplishing  its  object,  lessened  the  number  of  ap- 
pUcants  for  martyrdom  and  produced  a  great  increase 
of  apostates  and  fugitives. 

But  the  mania  which  impelled  the  most  fanatical  to 
self-sacrifice  was  far  from  infecting  the  entire  Chris- 
tian population  of  the  capital.  There  were  many  who 
looked  with  disapproval  upon  a  course  which  must 
eventually  result  in  the  oppression  of  their  sect,  in  the 
increase  of  its  burdens,  in  the  curtailment  of  its  privi- 
leges. They  foresaw  that  the  acts  of  a  few  irrespon- 
sible individuals  would  ere  long  be  regarded  by  the 
Moslem  government  as  the  authorized  policy  of  the 
Church.  Many  Christians  held  office  under  the  ad- 
ministration. It  was  only  a  question  of  time,  if  these 
disturbances  continued,  when  they  would  be  dismissed 
from  their  employments.  The  khahf ate  was  then  at 
the  height  of  its  power.  If  an  uprising  provoked  by 
the  clergy  should  occur,  as  seemed  not  improbable,  the 


MooBisH  Empire  in  Eukope  207 

entire  tributary  sect  might  be  extenninated;  and,  in- 
deed, this  measure  had  ah*eady  been  vehemently  urged 
by  the  intolerant  African  marabouts.  In  any  event, 
there  would  be  arbitrary  taxation,  confiscation,  vio- 
lence, exile.  In  their  extremity,  the  more  sober- 
minded  of  the  Christians  petitioned  the  Khalif  to 
summon  a  council,  whose  decision  might  be  authori- 
tative and  final  in  determining  the  duty  of  the  people 
in  the  present  emergency. 

All  the  prelates  in  the  jurisdiction  of  the  khalifate 
were  accordingly  convoked.  Abd-al-Ri^hman  ap- 
pointed as  his  representative  an  official  named  Gomez, 
prominent  in  the  administration,  nominally  attached  to 
the  Christian  commimion,  but  of  suspicious  morals  and 
of  more  than  suspicious  orthodoxy.  He  was  a  man  of 
fine  education,  conspicuous  talents,  polished  manners, 
insufferable  pride,  and  enormous  wealth.  The  head 
of  the  faction  which  had,  in  vain,  endeavored  to  check 
the  increasing  disposition  to  martyrdom  which  men- 
aced the  destruction  of  his  sect,  he  had  incurred  the 
unmeasured  hatred  of  the  clergy.  Realizing  fully 
the  fatal  consequences  of  the  insane  acts  of  his  co- 
religionists if  unrestrained,  his  interest  concurred  with 
his  inclination  to  repress  the  dangerous  manifesta- 
tions of  their  intemperate  zeal  before  it  became  too 
late. 

With  great  ability  and  eloquence  he  presented  his 
views  to  the  council.  The  assembled  prelates,  awed 
by  the  government  and  possessing  little  sympathy  for 
those  who  were  destroying  the  credit  of  their  order, 
were  not  disinclined  to  condemn  these  fanatical  sui- 
cides. But  here  a  serious  difficulty  arose.  The 
martyrs  had  been  canonized.  Their  relics  had  already 
demonstrated  their  sanctity  by  the  production  of 
miracles.  Their  bodies  were  enshrined  in  the  shadow 
of  the  altar;  iheir  deeds  and  their  sufferings  were 
now  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  Church.    It  was  there- 


208  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

fore  manifestly  impolitic,  as  well  as  sacrilegious,  to 
attempt  to  deprive  them  of  the  rank  in  the  celestial 
hierarchy  which  had  been  conferred  by  the  infallible 
wisdom  of  God.  A  middle  course  was  possible.  The 
council,  silent  upon  past  martyrdoms,  prohibited  them 
in  the  future.  Like  all  temporizing  measures  intended 
to  correct  deeply  rooted  abuses,  this  evasion  of  the 
issue  left  matters  worse  than  before.  The  extremists, 
headed  by  St.  Eulogius,  declared  that  the  real  senti- 
ment of  the  council  manifestly  ran  counter  to  the  one 
it  expressed,  as  it  did  not  pronounce  deserving  of 
censure  the  acts  of  those  who  had  suffered  for  the 
Faith.  The  priests  continued  to  arouse  the  zeal  of 
their  misguided  parishioners ;  enthusiasts  continued  to 
outrage  the  sanctity  of  the  mosques  and  the  dignity 
of  the  tribunals,  and  the  executions  went  relentlessly 
on.  Recafred,  Archbishop  of  Cordova,  exasperated 
by  the  contempt  with  which  the  decree  of  the  council 
had  been  received,  heartily  co-operated  with  the  Mos- 
lems in  the  punishment  of  the  offenders,  now  imder 
the  ban  of  both  the  government  and  the  Church. 
Many  recalcitrant  priests  were  seized  and  thrown  into 
prison.  Others  eluded  with  the  greatest  difficulty  the 
search  of  the  autliorities.  Among  the  latter  was  St. 
Eulogius,  with  whom,  as  well  as  with  many  of  his  holy 
brethren,  the  merits  of  martyrdom  seemed  most  glori- 
ous when  obtained  by  the  sufferings  of  others.  These 
vigorous  measures  filled  the  souls  of  the  elect  with 
terror.  A  few  escaped  to  the  Asturias.  A  consider- 
able number,  including  some  who  had  been  loudest  in 
their  praise  of  the  saints  and  apparently  most  eager 
to  emulate  their  example,  apostatized. 

The  so-called  persecution,  begun  imder  Abd-al- 
Rahman  II.  and  continued  under  Mohammed,  lasted 
eight  years.  The  works  of  contemporaneous  ecclesi- 
astical writers  conclusively  establish  the  fact  that  it 
was  provoked  by  the  violence  of  the  Christians  them- 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  209 

selves.  It  is  apparent  from  the  same  authorities  that 
its  effects  and  importance  were  grossly  exaggerated. 
The  Memorial  of  the  Saints,  by  Eulogius,  the  last 
and  most  eminent  of  the  alleged  victims  of  Moslem 
tyranny,  contains  the  names  of  comparatively  few 
martyrs.  But  forty-four  are  mentioned  by  the  erudite 
historian  Florez,  whose  diligent  industry  has  collated 
the  voluminous  records  bearing  upon  the  hagiology  of 
that  time,  as  having  been  executed  at  Cordova.  Sev- 
eral of  these  were  women,  between  whom  and  their 
male  companions  in  suffering  and  glory,  the  pious 
chronicler  naively  declares,  "mysterious  affinities" 
existed. 

With  the  decline  of  the  empire,  the  prevalence  of 
anarchy,  and  the  ascendency  of  the  Berbers,  the  con- 
dition of  the  Spanish  Christians  became  more  and 
more  distressing.  The  suspension  of  the  laws  afforded 
every  facility  for  their  oppression.  Their  churches 
were  torn  down.  Their  property  was  confiscated. 
The  descendants  of  the  partisans  of  Ibn-Hafsun 
maintained  a  correspondence  with  the  Castilian  enemy. 
Alfonso  of  Aragon  traversed  the  Peninsula  from  the 
Ebro  to  the  sea,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Mozarabes  of 
Granada.  Ten  thousand  of  the  latter  attended  him  in 
his  retreat.  The  vengeance  exacted  of  their  treacher- 
ous vassals  by  the  Moors  of  that  kingdom  was  terrible. 
The  expedition  was  productive  of  not  less  imhappy 
results  at  Cordova.  Nearly  every  church  was  de- 
stroyed, the  Christians  were  tortured,  despoiled  of 
their  possessions,  and  deported  in  a  body  to  Africa. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  mis- 
fortunes of  the  maltreated  sectaries  had  reached  their 
cuhnination.  The  Almohades,  when  not  dominated 
by  the  marabouts,  were  inclined  to  be  tolerant.  The 
Arab  chronicles  which  treat  of  the  Moorish  principali- 
ties do  not  mention  the  subject  of  persecution,  and  no 
Christian  records  of  that  time  have  been  preserved. 

Voi-  III.— 14 


210  History  of  the 

The  Mozarabes  of  the  kingdom  of  Granada  enjoyed 
the  largest  liberty.  In  Sicily,  during  the  entire  period 
of  Moslem  supremacy,  martyrdoms  were  exceedingly 
rare. 

Considering  the  widely  extended  apostasy  which 
followed  the  Arab  conquest,  it  is  remarkable,  if  viewed 
only  from  a  worldly  stand-point,  that  the  entire  Chris- 
tian population  of  the  Peninsula  did  not  become  Mo- 
hammedan. There  is  no  doubt  that  those  who  re- 
mained consistently  steadfast  in  the  faith  were  in  a 
decided  minority.  No  inconsiderable  number  of  prose- 
lytes was  recruited  from  the  patrician  class.  Among 
tiie  great  body  of  serfs  and  slaves,  there  were  few  who 
were  not  willing  to  renounce  their  religion  for  the 
certain  enjoyment  of  liberty  and  the  flattering  pros- 
pect of  future  ease  or  distinction.  The  mass  of  the 
tributaries  of  t^^e  province  of  Seville  had  early  aban- 
doned the  Christian  communion,  and  during  the  reign 
of  Abd-al-Rahman  II.  a  magnificent  mosque  was  built 
for  their  especial  accommodation.  The  majority  of 
the  prisoners  taken  in  war  embraced  without  hesitation 
the  doctrines  of  Islam.  Leaving  out  of  consideration 
the  influence  of  that  Divine  Power  which  must  have 
preserved  its  servants  imder  the  severest  trials,  cir- 
cumstances of  a  political  or  social  character  may  have 
arisen  to  prevent  the  wholesale  apostasy  of  a  nation. 

And  such  was  indeed  the  case. .  The  treatment  to 
which  the  renegades  were  subjected  is  a  single  instance 
of  many,  most  important  in  determining  the  causes  of 
the  decline  of  proselytism.  In  this  class,  the  f  reedmen 
largely  preponderated  in  numbers.  Notwithstanding 
the  nominal  equality  of  the  renegade  granted  by  his 
former  masters  in  the  beginning,  this  equality  was 
now  never  conceded.  The  stigma  of  servitude  which 
attached  to  the  majority  became  the  unjust  reproach 
of  the  caste.  While  many  were  sincere  in  their  be- 
lief, others  took  small  pains  to  disguise  the  interested 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  211 

motives  which  had  prompted  their  conversion.  The 
knowledge  of  this  fact  impelled  the  Moslems  to  treat 
all  converts  with  the  greatest  indignity.  They  were 
publicly  insulted.  Opprobrious  epithets  were  heaped 
upon  them.  Even  those  whose  ancestors  had  ranked 
with  the  most  distinguished  of  the  Grothic  aristocracy 
were  not  exempt  from  the  sneers  of  the  Mussulman 
rabble.  Possession  of  vast  wealth,  reputation  for 
genius,  taste,  or  learning,  afforded  no  immunity  from 
outrage  by  the  vilest  of  mankind.  It  was  rare  that  a 
renegade,  no  matter  how  conspicuous  his  abilities,  ob- 
tained a  responsible  office  in  the  government.  Even 
the  Christian  stood  a  far  better  chance  of  official  pro- 
motion by  the  followers  of  the  Prophet  than  the  recent 
proselyte  to  Islam.  It  was  not  in  the  nature  of  a 
numerous  and  powerful  caste,  smarting  under  un- 
merited humiliation  and  conscious  of  its  strength,  to 
calmly  submit  to  such  injustice.  Nor  was  it  long  be- 
fore this  destructive  policy,  which,  like  many  of  the 
evils  that  afflicted  the  Mussulman  domination,  had  its 
origin  in  Arab  pride,  produced  momentous  political 
results.  It  encouraged  treasonable  correspondence 
with  the  Christians  of  the  North.  It  raised  up  spies 
in  every  community.  It  provoked  the  bloody  revolt 
of  the  southern  suburb  of  Cordova  during  the  reign 
of  Al-Hakem  I.  It  recruited  the  armies  of  Ibn-Haf - 
sun,  who  for  thirty  years  defied  the  power  of  the  khali- 
fate.  The  renegades,  who  outnumbered  all  other 
classes  combined,  lacked  only  organization  and  leader- 
ship to  have  driven  their  haughty  oppressors  into  the 
sea.  When  the  power  of  the  Arab  faction  was  de- 
stroyed, their  condition  was  improved,  but  the  ardor 
of  proselytism  had  vanished.  Such  experiences  tended 
rather  to  confirm  than  to  weaken  the  faith  of  the  hesi- 
tating. 

Other  causes  contributed  to  the  prevalent  apathy. 
The  semi-theocratical  character  of  the  Moslem  consti- 


212  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

tution  implied  to  all  believers  the  active  exertion  of 
supernatural  power.  The  head  of  the  government  was 
at  the  same  time  the  Successor  and  the  Representative 
of  the  Prophet.  A  system  which  claims  divine  supe- 
riority should  by  all  means  be  free  from  turmoil,  from 
vices,  from  schism;  its  infallibility  should  be  demon- 
strated by  the  pre-eminent  wisdom  of  its  decrees;  its 
banners  i^ould  never  be  lowered.  Yet  Islam  was  rent 
by  faction  and  controversy.  Rival  princes,  on  every 
side,  asserted  their  conflicting  pretensions.  In  the  con- 
fusion of  warring  sects,  it  was  always  impossible  to 
distinguish  the  heretic  from  the  orthodox.  The  Mus- 
sulman armies  had  often  retired  in  disgrace  from 
before  the  half -savage  and  ill-equipped  Asturian 
mountaineers.  Tried  by  the  standards  of  mediaeval 
ignorance,  standards  founded  upon  unity  of  purpose 
and  invincibility  in  war,  Islamism  was  no  better  than 
the  creeds  it  had  supplanted. 

Again,  the  results  of  Moslem  civilization,  whose 
benefits  were  apparent  to  the  least  discerning,  were 
not  derived  from  the  efforts  of  the  devout.  The 
theologians,  without  exception,  were  obstructionists. 
They  decried  learning.  They  denounced  philosophy. 
To  them  the  elegant  pursuits  of  literature  were  an 
abomination.  As  a  rule,  they  had  nothing  in  common 
with  the  scholars  of  Cordova,  renowned  for  their  wit, 
their  politeness,  their  cultiu'e.  Their  persons  were 
neglected,  their  manners  uncouth,  their  language 
coarse,  imgranmiatical,  and  insolent.  In  their  opinion 
a  madman  was  inspired,  and  a  scientific  instrument  a 
device  of  Satan. 

Not  so,  however,  with  the  eminent  instructors  who 
directed  the  public  mind  of  the  nation,  who  imparted 
knowledge  to  eager  pilgrims  from  foreign  lands.  It 
was  to  their  lectures  that  the  young  Christians  de- 
lighted to  repair.  There  was  no  subject  on  which  they 
were  not  competent  to  discourse ;  no  topic  which  they 


Moorish  Empire  in  Exjbope  218 

did  not  elucidate  with  their  learning  and  adorn  with 
their  eloquence.  They  were,  almost  to  a  man,  what 
would  be  called  in  our  day  agnostics.  Some  were 
acknowledged  atheists.  Olliers  inclined  to  the  Pan- 
theism of  India.  None  mentioned  without  a  contemp- 
tuous smile  the  celestial  origin  of  the  Koran  or  the 
claims  of  the  Prophet  to  divine  inspiration. 

The  University  of  Cordova  was  the  seat  of  the  lit- 
erary faction  whose  influence  was  long  paramount  in 
the  empire.  Although  its  exercises  were  sometimes 
held  in  the  Great  Mosque,  it  had  no  sympathy  with 
religion  or  its  ministers.  Its  infidel  teachings  had  for 
generations  been  the  reproach  of  the  pious  f  aquis  and 
the  abhorrence  of  the  Catholic  clergy.  Its  doors  were 
open  to  the  studious  of  every  race;  its  honors  were 
bestowed  upon  the  meritorious  scholar,  without  regard 
to  his  belief  or  his  ancestry.  In  its  great  library,  the 
Mussulman,  the  Christian,  the  Buddhist,  and  the  Jew 
pursued  their  researches  in  generous  rivalry  or  friendly 
co-operation. 

Under  such  unfavorable  circumstances,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  conversion  of  Christians  to  Islamism 
was  permanently  arrested.  Outrages  upon  proselytes, 
frequent  insurrections,  confusion  of  doctrines,  vul- 
garity of  theologians,  infidelity  of  those  best  qualified 
to  determine  the  value  of  established  opinions,  and 
the  unrestricted  enjoyment  of  educational  facilities 
were  serious  impediments,  rather  than  incentives,  to  a 
change  of  religious  belief. 

The  fierce  hostility  that  has  always  been  manifested 
by  the  Apostolic  Church  against  every  kind  of  pro- 
fane learning — ^the  outgrowth  of  the  tremendous 
power  successfully  exerted  for  many  centuries  to 
degrade  the  mind,  to  pervert  the  imderstanding,  to 
dwarf  the  noble  faculty  of  reason — ^had  no  terrors 
for  the  more  enlightened  part  of  the  Christian  popu- 
lation of  the  khalif  ate.    There,  in  the  presence  of  the 


214  History  of  the 

unrivalled  achievements  of  Moslem  genius,  the  stem 
intolerance  of  Patristidsm  could  not  stand  before  the 
liberal  policy  of  Islam  and  the  daily  application  of  the 
lofty  sentiment  of  its  Prophet,  "  Whoso  pursues  the 
road  of  knowledge,  God  will  direct  him  to  the  road 
of  Paradise.  Verily,  the  superiority  of  a  learned  man 
over  a  mere  worshipper  is  like  that  of  the  full  moon 
over  all  the  stars  1"  The  exhibition  of  universal 
charity,  of  broad  philanthropy,  of  educational  advan- 
tages impartially  bestowed,  as  contrasted  with  the 
narrow  maxims  of  their  own  conmiunion;  the  over- 
whelming superiority  of  Mussulman  civilization;  the 
powerful  influence  of  daily  intercourse  and  example; 
the  prodigious  augmentation  of  commercial  prosperity 
and  worldly  grandeur;  the  alluring  prospect  of  carnal 
pleasures,  while  they  might  not  conduce  to  prosely- 
tism,  nevertheless  undermined  the  faith  and  constancy 
of  the  Christian  youth. 

The  teachings  of  the  philosophers  of  Cordova  were 
not  propitious  to  the  maintenance  of  either  established 
dogma  or  ecclesiastical  superiority;  and  the  clergy 
saw,  with  undisguised  dismay,  the  growing  prevalence 
of  lukewarmness  and  skepticism.  The  predominance 
of  the  Spanish  Arabs  in  every  branch  of  literary  cul- 
ture, their  eminent  success  in  arms,  their  intelligence, 
their  valor,  their  courtesy,  the  seductive  power  of 
their  splendor  and  their  opulence  had  far  more  effect 
upon  the  minds  of  the  rising  generation  of  Christians 
than  the  delusive  promises  and  impotent  anathemas 
proclaimed  every  week  from  a  thousand  pulpits.  And, 
indeed,  the  contrast  presented  by  the  two  rival  re- 
ligions was  most  striking  to  the  unprejudiced  seeker 
after  truth.  On  the  one  hand  was  the  church,  with 
its  resoimding  vaults  and  its  gloomy  and  sepulchral 
crypt;  the  monastery,  with  its  privations;  the  reliqua- 
ries, with  their  offensive  hoards  of  withered  flesh  and 
mouldering  bones;    the  inconsistencies  of  a  system 


Moorish  Empib£  in  Exjbofe  215 

which  inculcated  charity  and  commanded  persecution; 
the  inexorable  tyranny  of  Ihe  priesthood;  the  sys- 
tematic discouragement  of  learning;  the  confessional 
with  its  enforced  revelation  of  secrets;  the  mass  with 
its  monotonous  services  and  its  ritual  in  an  unknown 
tongue;  the  penance  with  its  sufferings  and  humilia- 
tion. On  the  other  hand  rose  the  mosque,  light,  airy, 
beautiful;  its  graceful  minaret  pointing  towards  the 
heavens;  its  court  shaded  by  pahn-  and  orange-trees, 
redolent  with  the  mingled  fragrance  of  a  thousand 
exotics,  musical  with  the  plashing  of  crystal  Waters; 
its  walls  covered  with  a  maze  of  intricate  and  brilliant 
stuccoes;  its  ceiling  emblazoned  with  the  golden  texts 
of  the  Koran;  its  sanctuary  sparkling  with  mosaics, 
whose  exquisite  tracery  rivalled  the  fabled  creations 
of  the  genii;  the  sermon,  intelligible  to  the  most 
humble  and  untutored  listener;  the  prayer,  remark- 
able for  earnestness,  simplicity,  reverence.  On  this 
side  were  exhibited  the  factitious  virtues  and  revolt- 
ing hcense  inseparable  from  the  unnatural  condition 
of  celibacy;  the  sacrifice  of  every  diversion  that  ren- 
ders health  attainable  or  existence  attractive;  the 
morose  austerity  of  monastic  solitude;  the  ill-con- 
cealed excesses  by  which  human  nature  attempts  to 
indemnify  itself  for  the  restraints  imposed  by  organ- 
ized hypocrisy;  the  solicited  martyrdom  of  the  half- 
crazed  zealot;  the  savage  pursuit  of  infidels  and 
schismatics;  the  sanctified  example  of  ecclesiastical 
ignorance,  moral  abasement,  and  physical  impurity. 
On  the  other  were  the  delights  of  the  harem;  the 
physical  and  mental  vigor  derived  from  constant 
exercise  of  the  muscular  system  and  the  intellectual 
faculties;  the  benefits  arising  from  the  practice  of 
frequent  ablution;  the  palatial  appointments  of  the 
public  bath;  the  innumerable  conveniences  invented 
or  adopted  by  a  society  ever  alert  to  grasp  every  new 
idea,  to  profit  by  every  past  experience;  the  advan- 


216  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

tages  of  a  method  of  education  unparalleled  in  excel- 
lence and  unapproached  by  even  the  wisest  teachers 
of  antiquity;  the  vast  libraries,  filled  with  the  stores 
of  ancient  learning;  the  lectures  of  the  lyceum;  the 
curious  experiments  of  scientific  observers;  the  enter- 
taining scenes  of  social  festivity;  the  animated  dis- 
putations of  learned  assemblies. 

The  jurisprudence  of  the  orthodox  believer  was 
basely  subservient  to  the  claims  of  superstition.  His 
cause  was  determined  by  the  uncertain  results  of  ju- 
dicial combat,  by  the  oaths  of  prejudiced  compurga- 
tors, by  the  frivolous  ordeals  of  water  and  fire.  The 
sectary  of  Mohammed  was  tried  by  the  kadi,  a  magis- 
trate governed  by  established  principles  of  law,  and 
bound  by  religious  as  weU  as  by  temporal  considera- 
tions to  an  impartial  administration  of  justice. 

When  a  Christian  became  ill,  attempts  were  made 
to  exorcise  the  evil  spirit  to  which  his  sujfferings  were 
attributed  by  binding  him  to  the  altar,  by  the  invoca- 
tion of  saints,  by  the  application  of  relics  and  conse- 
crated amulets.  The  Moslem  was  conveyed  to  the 
hospital  provided  and  maintained  by  royal  benefi- 
cence; the  cause  of  his  complaint  was  ascertained; 
and  during  his  stay  he  received  gratuitously  the  assid- 
uous attentions  of  the  nurse  and  the  intelligent  care 
of  the  surgeon. 

While  the  priest-ridden  peasantry  of  the  Pyrenees 
and  the  Rhone  denounced  the  Saracen  as  a  foe  of  God 
and  a  scourge  to  humanity,  the  Christian  who  lived 
in  security  imder  his  government,  enjoyed  his  favor, 
shared  his  hospitality,  profited  by  his  instruction,  knew 
but  too  weU  the  calumny  of  these  assertions,  and  that 
their  maligned  object  exhibited  upon  occasion  aU  the 
noble  attributes  of  a  faithful  friend  and  a  brave  and 
chivalrous  enemy.  The  dissensions  of  the  Arabs,  and 
their  imgenerous  treatment  of  those  who  voluntarily 
embraced  their  faith,  were  largely  instrumental  in  pre- 


Moorish  Emphie  in  Eubope  217 

venting  the  amalgamation  of  races,  even  then  far  on 
the  way  towards  accomplishment.  Had  not  these 
causes  intervened,  only  a  few  centuries  would  prob- 
ably have  elapsed  before  the  subject  nation,  already 
closely  united  with  the  predominant  caste  by  the  bonds 
of  marriage,  consanguinity,  and  interest,  by  intimate 
mercantile  associations,  by  the  powerful  influence  of 
habits,  education,  and  language,  might  have  become 
thoroughly  Mohanmiedanized.  As  it  was,  a  greater 
affinity  always  existed  between  the  Christian  vassals 
of  the  Spanish  khalifs  and  their  lords  than  between 
the  members  of  the  several  factions  of  the  Arabs 
th^EUselves,  whose  inextinguishable  hatred,  the  fruit 
of  countless  generations  of  hostility,  eventually  com- 
passed the  destruction  of  their  empire. 


218  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE  MOBISCOES 

1492-1609 

State  of  the  Eingdom  after  the  Conquest — Superiority  of  the 
Moors  —  Policy  of  the  Crown  —  Introduction  of  the  Holy 
Office — ^Administration  of  Talavera — ^His  Popularity — He  is 
superseded  by  Ximenes — The  Two  Great  Spanish  Cardinals 
— Their  Opposite  Characters — Influence  on  Their  Age — 
Violence  of  Ximenes — ^He  bums  the  Arabic  Manuscripts — 
Insurrection  of  the  Moriscoes — Rout  in  the  Sierra  Bermeja 
—  Bigotry  of  Isabella  —  The  Moors  under  Charles  V. — 
Persecution  by  the  Clergy  and  the  Inquisition  under  Philip 
II. — ^War  in  the  Alpuj  arras — Ibn-Ommeyah — Operations  of 
Don  John  of  Austria — Removal  of  the  Moors  of  Granada — 
Death  of  Ibn-Ommeyah — Ibn-Abu  becomes  King — Siege  of 
Galera — ^Atrocities  of  the  Campaign — Fate  of  Ibn-Abu — 
Condition  of  the  Moriscoes  in  Spain — ^They  are  Exiled  by 
Philip  III.— Their  Sufferings— Effect  of  their  Banishment 
upon  the  Prosperity  of  the  Kingdom. 

The  close  of  the  Reconquest  left  the  Spanish  mon- 
archy in  a  condition  of  physical  and  financial  collapse. 
The  maintenance  of  a  great  army  for  ten  years,  with 
the  resultant  casualties  of  hattle,  exposure,  and  dis- 
ease, had  sensibly  diminished  the  population.  The 
treasury  had  long  been  depleted.  The  Queen  had 
pawned  her  jewels  to  the  bankers  of  Valencia  and 
Barcelona.  Wealthy  subjects  had  been  induced  to 
advance  funds  to  the  government  by  methods  equiva- 
lent to  confiscation,  and  which  held  out  but  slender 
hopes  of  ultimate  reimbursement.  National  credit 
was  practically  destroyed.  The  absence  of  the  more 
industrious  citizens  in  military  service,  the  incorrigible 
idleness  of  those  who  remained,  had  impaired  the  pur- 
suit of  agriculture,  upon  which  the  resources  of  the 


MooEiSH  Empibe  m  Eukope  219 

kingdom  depended.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  taxes 
and  extraordinary  contributions  levied  upon  the  Jew- 
ish and  Moslem  tributaries,  the  war  could  not  have 
been  prosecuted  to  a  successful  conclusion.  These 
two  sects,  which  occupied  an  anomalous  position  in  the 
body  politic,  numbered  over  two  million.  Although 
so  inferior  in  numbers,  they  engrossed  the  trade  and 
controlled  the  personal  property  of  the  Peninsula. 
The  Jew,  who  practised  with  enormous  profit  the  con- 
genial but  unpopular  profession  of  usury,  converted 
his  gains  into  money  and  jewels.  The  Mudejar,  who, 
after  the  Conquest,  gave  place  to  the  Morisco,  mind- 
ful of  the  Koranic  precept  which  inculcates  industry 
as  a  virtue  and  stigmatizes  idleness  as  a  crime,  was  the 
most  laborious  and  successful  of  agriculturists,  the 
most  skilful  of  artisans.  Representatives  of  these 
two  classes  directed  the  operations  of  the  largest  mer- 
cantile houses  in  the  principal  cities,  and  the  commerce 
of  the  entire  country  was  practically  in  their  hands. 
Their  prosperity  was  regarded  with  an  evil  eye  by 
their  Castilian  masters,  and  the  Moslem  was  espe- 
cially the  object  of  this  animadversion.  For  genera- 
tions the  former  had  pursued  the  glorious  but  brutal- 
izing calling  of  arms.  With  them,  every  occupation 
that  imphed  or  necessitated  the  performance  of  man- 
ual labor  was  considered  undignified  and  degrading. 
Centuries  of  unremitting  warfare  had  impressed  upon 
the  whole  nation  a  military  character,  with  its  inevi- 
table concomitants  of  pride,  tyranny,  and  insolence; 
and  these  sentiments  were  intensified  a  hundred-fold 
by  racial  hatred  and  sectarian  prejudice.  From  the 
earliest  times  the  Moors  had  been  regarded  as  inter- 
lopers, scarcely  entitled  to  the  ordinarily  indisputable 
rights  of  conquest.  The  acquisition  of  their  domain 
by  Spanish  prowess  was  always  considered  as  the  re- 
covery of  former  inalienable  possession,  not  as  new 
territory  wrested  from  an  adversary  by  dint  of  supe- 


220  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

rior  strength  and  valor.  The  establishment  of  the 
Catholic  faith  was,  in  the  opinion  of  adroit  casuists, 
an  additional  argument  in  favor  of  their  title,  for  it 
was  held  that  the  consecration  of  altars  to  Christianity 
conferred  rights  which  could  never  be  abrogated 
through  occupation  by  infidels.  With  the  inconsist- 
ency of  ignorance,  the  Castilians  asserted  their  title 
both  by  inheritance  and  prescription.  They  forgot 
that  Spain  had  ever  been  the  rich  prize  for  which 
almost  every  warlike  nation  of  the  ancient  world  had 
contended.  The  Visigoths  overran  and  ravaged  it  in 
the  fifth  century,  and  their  occupancy,  derived  solely 
from  conquest,  lasted  three  hundred  years.  Then 
came  the  Saracens,  whose  domination,  obtained  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  manner,  required  about  the  same 
length  of  time  for  the  conquest,  but  endured  for  more 
than  twice  as  long.  It  was  evident,  therefore,  to 
every  mind  not  obscured  by  prejudice,  that  the  title 
of  the  Moslems,  even  from  the  Spanish  point  of  view, 
was  better  than  that  of  their  conquerors.  In  more 
than  one  respect,  indeed,  had  the  followers  of  Moham- 
med claims  upon  the  country  of  their  adoption  as  well 
as  upon  the  gratitude  and  admiration  of  mankind. 
Their  industry  and  enterprise  had  developed  beyond 
all  precedent  the  wonderful  resources  of  the  Penin- 
sula. Its  prosperity  had  never  been  so  great,  its  peo- 
ple so  happy,  its  sovereigns  so  renowned,  as  at  the 
meridian  of  the  Moslem  power.  In  intellectual  at- 
tainments, and  the  skilful  adaptation  of  scientific 
principles  to  the  practical  affairs  of  life,  the  subjects 
of  the  khalifate  far  surpassed  all  their  contempo- 
raries. The  civilization — ^if  it  is  worthy  of  the  name 
— ^which  the  Saracens  overthrew  was  infinitely  inferior 
to  the  one  that  they  created.  The  Visigoths  had 
scarcely  emerged  from  barbarism.  Their  monardis 
attempted  to  emulate,  in  their  magnificence  and  lux- 
ury, the  brilliant  court  of  the  Eastern  Empire,  and  to 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  221 

®*^PPly>  '^y  the  splendor  and  richness  of  the  materials, 
the  glaring  defidencies  in  skill  and  workmanship 
which  characterized  the  productions  of  their  artisans. 
They  never  discarded  the  savage  customs  engendered 
and  perpetuated  hy  ages  of  violence  and  injustice. 
Sedentary  and  industrial  occupations  were  repugnant 
to  the  genius  of  a  people  whose  national  traditions 
from  time  immemorial  had  breathed  a  spirit  of  trucu- 
lence  and  war.  And  yet,  even  in  their  chosen  field, 
they  at  once  demonstrated  their  inferiority  to  an 
enemy  who  had  hardly  completed  his  apprenticeship 
in  arms. 

After  the  Conquest,  the  insignificant  number  of 
Christians  saved  by  the  inaccessible  fastnesses  of  the 
Asturias  from  Mohammedan  subjection  had  little  left 
but  their  swords  and  their  independence.  Their  pre- 
vious habits  had  unfitted  them  for  labor.  The  ungen- 
erous nature  of  the  soil  and  the  severity  of  the  climate 
offered  few  inducements  for  tillage.  They  had, 
therefore,  no  resource  but  war  by  which  to  maintain 
their  existence  and  repair  their  broken  fortunes. 
Their  children  were  reared  in  ignorance  and  under 
conditions  favorable  to  the  development  of  the  highest 
degree  of  ferocity  and  fanaticism.  They  were 
taught  to  regard  their  enemies  as  monsters,  imworthy 
of  the  name  and  attributes  of  humanity,  and  having 
nothing  in  common  with  the  remainder  of  mankind 
but  an  erect  form  and  the  capacity  of  speech.  In  the 
course  of  time,  greater  familiarity  with  their  adver- 
saries insensibly  produced  a  change  of  feeling,  and 
many  of  these  absurd  and  imjust  prejudices  were 
modified  or  entirely  discarded.  Numerous  Moham- 
medan customs  were  adopted,  especially  by  the  nobil- 
ity of  Castile,  whose  inherent  profligacy  especially  in- 
clined them  to  the  forbidden  and  unorthodox  license 
of  the  seraglio.  Moslem  kings  were  not  infrequently 
appointed   arbiters   of   disputes   between   Christian 


222  HlSTOEY  OF  THE 

princes  of  the  blood.  In  arms,  in  manners,  in  oos- 
tmne,  in  amusements,  the  despised  infidel  furnished 
models  to  the  proud  and  boorish  descendants  of  Pe- 
layus  and  his  moimtaineers.  Even  the  language  was 
contaminated.  Thousands  of  terms  familiar  to  the 
reader  of  the  Koran  were  incorporated  unchanged 
into  its  comprehensive  vocabulary,  and  the  noble  and 
sonorous  Castilian  idiom  remains  to-day  almost  one- 
third  Arabic.  The  system  of  warfare,  the  evolutions 
of  cavalry,  the  adoption  of  lighter  armor,  all  exhibited 
the  effect  of  the  pervading  Moorish  influence.  Archi- 
tects from  Granada  were  employed  by  Castilian  mon- 
archs  in  the  construction  of  palaces,  and  even  by  or- 
thodox prelates  in  the  ornamentation  of  cathedrals. 
It  was  the  custom  of  many  sovereigns  in  those  turbu- 
lent times  to  intrust  their  safety  to  a  body-guard  of 
Saracen  mercenaries,  who  could  neither  be  intimidated 
nor  corrupted.  The  honors  paid  to  deceased  Cas- 
tilian royalty  by  the  Moslems  were  not  inferior  to 
those  with  which  the  obsequies  of  the  greatest  emirs 
were  celebrated.  The  court  of  Granada  went  into 
mourning  for  Ferdinand  III.,  and  a  guard  of  Moor- 
ish nobles  escorted  his  remains  to  the  tomb.  Henry 
IV.  gave  audience  to  ambassadors  seated  upon  a  divan 
and  supported  by  cushions,  in  the  traditiojial  Saracen 
fashion.  The  tilt  of  reeds  and  the  bull-fight,  the  ex- 
ercises of  the  grand  arena,  which,  requiring  the  great- 
est address  and  agility,  were  so  popular  with  the 
Spanish  chivalry,  superseded  the  ruder  and  more 
dangerous  exhibitions  of  the  tournament.  In  innu- 
merable examples,  in  every  phase  of  the  public  .and 
domestic  life  of  the  Christians,  the  influence  of 
Mohammedan  association  was  manifested.  It  is  a 
curious  fact,  as  already  stated,  that,  in  spite  of  this, 
the  deep-seated  prejudices  of  the  two  races,  so  far 
from  being  eradicated,  were  scarcely  even  perceptibly 
modified.    Notwithstanding  intermarriages,  the  for- 


MoosiSH  Empikb  in  Eubofe  228 

mal  and  elaborate  display  of  public  courtesy,  the  fre- 
quency of  appeals  to  royal  arbitration,  the  adoption 
of  official  ceremonials  by  one  people,  the  voluntary 
solicitation  of  protection  by  the  other,  all  appearances 
of  amity  were  fallacious,  and  a  feeling  of  irrecon- 
cilable hostility  constantly  prevailed  between  the  two 
races.  Both  reduced  their  prisoners  to  slavery,  a  con- 
dition which  generally  implied  the  most  inhuman 
treatment.  The  captives  taken  by  the  Castilians  were 
branded  upon  the  forehead,  a  mark  of  degradation 
which  could  never  be  erased;  the  slaves  of  the  Mos- 
lems were  confined  in  damp  and  unwholesome  dun- 
geons, and  compelled  to  labor  daily  in  the  construction 
of  mosques  and  fortifications.  It  was  no  imusual  oc- 
currence, when  a  place  had  provoked  the  animosity  of 
either  by  an  obstinate  resistance,  for  the  entire  popu- 
lation, irrespective  of  age  or  sex,  to  be  ruthlessly  put 
to  the  sword.  In  the  heat  of  conflict,  quarter  was  sel- 
dom expected.  Despite  the  omnipresent  and  irre- 
futable evidences  of  superior  knowledge,  refinement, 
and  culture,  the  arrogant  and  conceited  Castilians 
always  stigmatized  their  adversaries  as  barbarians. 
With  them,  implicit  belief  in  and  attachment  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  faith  was  the  inf aUible  touchstone 
of  civilization.  Whatever  they  did  not  understand 
they  attributed  to  magic.  The  mysterious  accents  of 
the  Arabic  language,  and  the  intricate  manner  in 
which  its  characters  were  combined  in  the  inscriptions 
which  adorned  the  public  edifices,  aroused  in  the  minds 
of  the  ignorant  suspicions  of  sorcery,  with  its  accom- 
paniments of  talismans,  amulets,  charms,  and  incan- 
tations. The  magnificent  architectural  works  of  Arab 
genius  were  attributed  to  infernal  agency,  as  beyond 
the  efforts  of  unaided  human  power;  an  opinion  still 
entertained  by  the  Spanish  peasantry,  who  not  only 
firmly  believe  that  tihe  Moslem  palaces  were  con- 
structed by  evil  spirits,  but  also  ascribe  the  origin  of 


224  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

the  gigantic,  and  apparently  eternal,  monuments  of 
classic  antiquity  to  the  hands  of  the  devil  himself. 

Besides  the  inveterate  prejudices  arising  from  an- 
tagonistic faiths  and  protracted  warfare,  other  cir- 
cumstances intervened  to  preclude  the  fusion  of  the 
two  races  after  the  Conquest.  The  Spaniard,  with 
characteristic  pride,  asserted  the  superiority  and  pre- 
dominance of  his  race  and  origin,  and  the  slightest 
suspicion  of  Moorish  blood  constituted  a  blemish 
which  no  poUtical  or  military  distinction  was  ever  able 
to  eradicate.  The  industry  of  the  Mudejares,  their 
frugality,  their  clannishness,  the  seclusion  of  their 
women,  aroused  unfavorable  conmient  among  a  peo- 
ple whose  prejudices  associated  these  practices  with 
the  name  of  an  hereditary  and  implacable  enemy.  It 
had  long  been  a  subject  of  imiversal  complaint  that 
the  larger  proportion  of  the  wealth  of  the  kingdom 
was  possessed  by  these  unpopular  tributaries.  The 
idle  Castilian,  whose  ancestors  had  for  twenty-three 
generations  subsisted  by  rapine,  could  not  regard  with 
indifference  the  plodding  industry  that  conferred 
upon  a  subjugated  and  misbelieving  race  those  sub- 
stantial benefits  which  he  had  always  been  taught  to 
regard  as  the  birthright  of  a  Christian.  It  was  also 
publicly  stated,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  tributary 
Moors,  that  even  when  they  renounced  their  faith  they 
still  adhered  to  their  former  laborious  habits;  that 
none  of  them  ever  entered  convents  or  monasteries; 
and  that  their  contributions  to  the  Church  were  not 
of  the  value  to  be  expected  from  the  zeal  and  generos- 
ity of  sincere  proselytes.  Their  conversion  did  not 
bring  with  it  that  indulgence  and  those  privileges  to 
which  their  ghostly  instructors  assured  them  they 
would  be  entitled;  it  did  not  even  confer  immunity 
from  insult.  Until  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  the  Mude- 
jares were  exempt  from  the  inconvenience  of  wearing 
a  distinctive  mark  indicative  of  their  social  condition, 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  225 

which,  long  hef  ore  imposed  upon  the  Jews,  was  justly 
considered  a  badge  of  ignominy.  After  that  time, 
however,  they  were  required  to  wear  upon  their  caps 
and  turbans  a  blue  crescent "  of  the  size  of  an  orange," 
which  constantly  brought  upon  them  the  affronts  of 
children,  and  not  infrequently  the  taunts  and  violence 
of  a  fanatical  populace.  In  spite  of  the  serious  re- 
strictions imposed  upon  the  Mudejares,  and  the  enor- 
mous contributions  levied  upon  their  industry,  they 
continued  to  prosper,  and  at  the  time  of  the  surrender 
of  Granada  they  were  the  most  valuable  subjects  of 
the  Spanish  Crown.  Policy,  based  upon  a  sense  of 
weakness,  had  long  repressed  ihe  avarice  and  envy  of 
tiie  Castilian  sovereigns  in  their  relations  with  a  class 
whose  skill  and  labor  were  the  principal  sources  of  the 
opulence  of  the  realm.  The  time  had  now  come  when 
all  restraint  could  be  cast  aside  without  danger,  and 
royal  aggression,  not  only  sanctioned  but  suggested 
and  encouraged  by  ecclesiastical  authority,  could  vio- 
late every  obligation,  human  and  divine,  ihat  had  been 
entered  into  with  a  conquered  people,  whose  principal 
crime  was  their  prosperity,  and  whose  independence 
had  been  voluntarily  relinquished  under  solemn 
treaties  which  had  absolutely  guaranteed  their  per- 
sonal safety  and  the  unmolested  exercise  of  their  dvil 
and  religious  rights  and  privileges.  A  most  pernicious 
maxim,  but  one  entirely  consonant  with  the  prevailing 
sentiments  of  the  age,  had  been  recently  adopted, 
and  declared  by  the  highest  ecclesiastical  authority 
susceptible  of  unlimited  application.  This  was  that, 
the  original  conquest  of  the  P^iinsula  by  the  Moors 
partaking  of  the  nature  of  an  usurpation,  or  rather 
of  a  theft  obtained  by  violence,  all  treaties  or  engage- 
ments entered  into  with  the  descendants  of  the  in- 
vaders were  valid  only  so  long  as  the  Christians  chose 
to  observe  them,  as  having  been  dictated  by  necessity 
and  contracted  with  persons  outside  the  pale  of  the 

You  IIL— 15 


226  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

law.  The  peculiar  casuistry,  which  deduced  from 
Biblical  precedent  and  the  exterminating  wars  of  the 
Jews  analogies  whose  application  wrought  sudi  havoc 
among  the  conquered  nations  of  Spain  and  the  New 
World,  found  no  difficulty  in  the  acceptation  of  the 
broader,  and  consequently  even  more  atrocious,  prin- 
ciple that  no  faith  whatever  was  to  be  kept  with  in- 
fidels. Ecclesiastical  ingenuity  has  never  invented 
more  potent  weapons  for  the  attainment  of  absolu- 
tism than  these  two  maxims,  which,  rigorously  ap- 
plied, demonstrated  their  temporary  and  apparent 
efficacy  by  the  utter  extermination  of  millions  of 
nominal  enemies  of  the  Spanish  monarchy. 

By  the  union  of  Castile  and  Aragon  and  the  Con- 
quest of  Granada  national  unity  had  been  secured; 
it  now  remained  to  place  the  religious  establishment 
of  the  kingdom  upon  the  same  advantageous  footing. 
The  Inquisition,  an  engine  of  tremendous  power, 
whose  operations  were  attended  by  the  most  gratify- 
ing results,  had,  for  more  than  two  centuries,  been 
employed  in  subduing  recalcitrant  heretics,  procuring 
conversions,  and  replenishing  the  exhausted  coffers 
of  Church  and  State.  First  introduced  into  Aragon 
from  France,  its  efforts  were  mainly  directed  against 
the  Jews,  whose  wealth  had  brought  upon  than  a  con- 
venient suspicion  of  heresy.  The  main  objects  of  the 
Inquisition  were  in  reality  secular  and  political.  That 
hideous  institution  aimed  at  the  establishment  of  un- 
questioned sovereignty  by  the  instruments  of  perse- 
cution. Religious  dogmas,  while  nomihally  of  vital 
importance  in  its  procedure,  were  but  pretexts  by 
which  the  clergy,  and  indirectly  the  orthodox  monarch, 
profited  in  the  acquirement  and  consolidation  of  irre- 
sponsible authority.  The  stifling  of  human  thought, 
the  suppression  of  every  branch  of  knowledge,  the 
prohibition  of  the  exercise  of  private  judgment,  the 
infimte  multiplication  of  offences  against  religion,  the 


Moorish  Empikb  in  Eusofe  227 

minute  gradation  of  penances,  many  of  them  of  bar- 
barous and  incredible  severity,  were  all  means  to  the 
accomplishment  of  one  base  and  ignoble  end.  The 
theological  aspect  of  the  Inquisition  has  engrossed  the 
attention  of  historians  to  the  exclusion  of  its  genuine 
but  concealed  objects.  That  the  punishment  of  heresy 
was  not  the  real  mission  of  its  tribunal  is  proved  by 
the  fact  that  its  sentences  were  frequently  suspended, 
commuted,  or  abrogated  by  the  sovereign,  conditional 
on  the  payment  of  money.  The  rich  were  the  especial 
objects  of  its  hostility;  the  denunciation  of  a  wealthy 
person  was  equivalent  to  conviction;  and  if  a  Hebrew 
or  a  Moslem,  he  could  hardly  escape  the  extreme  pen- 
alty. The  mystery  of  its  organization,  its  unexpected 
arrests,  its  secret  procedure,  its  frightflil  dungeons, 
the  fiendish  cruelty  of  the  tortures  it  inflicted,  and  the 
atrocities  of  its  public  exhibitions — ^which  partook  of 
tiie  nature  of  religious  festivals,  and,  with  shocking 
inconsistency,  were  supposed  to  be  devoted  to  popular 
recreation— ^struck  terror  into  every  community  and 
every  family. 

Tlie  successful  prosecution  of  heresy  by  the  Inquisi- 
tion, as  well  as  the  financial  advantages  it  promised, 
and  the  increase  of  ecclesiastical  and  royal  power 
which  followed  its  establishment,  appealed  forcibly 
to  the  bigoted  and  arbitrary  mind  of  the  Spanish 
Queen.  Not  so,  however,  with  Ferdinand,  whose  ex- 
perience with  that  dread  tribunal  had  caused  him  to 
regard  its  operations  with  disfavor,  and  who  had  ren- 
dered his  orthodoxy  liable  to  suspicion  by  intrusting 
to  Jewish  bankers  the  administration  of  the  finances 
of  the  Crown  of  Aragon.  His  remonstrances  were, 
however,  unheeded  by  his  obstinate  and  despotic  con- 
sort The  Kingdom  of  Castile  had  always  enjoyed 
an  unquestioned  preponderance  of  authority  and  pres- 
tige in  the  affairs  of  the  Peninsula.  The  compact 
which  consolidated  the  two  great  realms  into  one  em- 


228  History  of  the 

pire  expressly  conferred  upon  Isabella  the  exclusive 
control  of  all  matters  relating  to  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction. The  right  of  presentation  to  benefices — ^long 
asserted  by  Castilian  princes  as  a  royal  prerogative, 
and  whose  exercise,  denounced  by  the  Papacy  as  an 
usiu'pation,  had  repeatedly  brought  upon  them  the 
censures  of  the  Holy  See — ^invested  the  Queen  with  a 
power  of  vast  and  indefinable  extent  over  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy,  who  owed  their 
offices  to  her  generosity,  and  whose  revenues  were 
largely  dispensed  in  accordance  with  her  advice.  Her 
policy  and  her  apparent  interest  induced  her,  there- 
fore, to  consent  to  the  introduction  of  the  Holy  Office; 
and  its  tribunal  was  established  at  Cordova,  under  the 
direction  of  Tomas  de  Torquemada,  first  Inquisitor- 
Grcneral  of  the  kingdom,  a  name  of  awful  prominence 
in  the  history  of  Spanish  persecution. 

The  capitulation  of  Granada  had  been  concluded 
with  every  indication  of  sincerity,  and  with  the  most 
solemn  assurances  with  which  it  is  possible  to  invest 
the  provisions  and  confirm  the  faith  of  treaties.  The 
unsuspecting  Moslems  did  not  long  remain  in  igno- 
rance of  the  duplicity  of  their  conquerors.  Excesses 
were  publicly  committed  by  licentious  cavaliers,  who, 
instead  of  undergoing  the  penalty  of  death  adjudged 
for  such  offences,  escaped  with  a  gentle  reprimand, 
and  were  even  conspicuously  distinguished  by  the 
favor  of  their  royal  mistress.  The  seclusion  of  domes- 
tic life,  so  jealously  guarded  by  Mohammedan  cus- 
tom, was  unceremoniously  invaded  upon  the  most 
frivolous  pretexts  by  the  rude  and  insolent  soldiery. 
The  mosques,  whose  possession  had  been  especially 
guaranteed  by  the  articles  of  the  treafy,  were  one 
after  another  seized  and  consecrated  to  tiie  Christian 
worship.  For  these  flagrant  breaches  of  trust,  the 
stupid  and  remorseless  bigotry  of  Isabella  was  largely 
responsible.     The  dty  had  hardly  passed  into  the 


MooEiSH  Empib£  in  Eubofe  229 

hands  of  the  conquerors,  before  the  advisability  of 
forcible  conversion  began  to  be  seriously  discussed, 
and  the  Queen  listened  with  pleasure  to  suggestions 
of  indiscriminate  and  compulsory  baptism.  The  ef- 
forts of  priestly  avarice  and  intolerance,  secure  in  the 
royal  support,  began  to  encroach  more  and  more  upon 
the  acknowledged  rights  of  these  unfortunate  victims 
of  persecution,  until  a  revolution  broke  out,  which 
threatened  the  integrity  of  the  newly  acquired  domin- 
ions, and  required  the  entire  resources  of  the  kingdom 
to  suppress  it.  The  government  of  Granada  had  been 
left  in  the  hands  of  three  men,  whose  excellent  quali- 
fications, previous  experience,  and  inborn  sense  of  jus- 
tice rendered  them  eminently  qualified  for  the  difficult 
task  to  which  they  had  been  assigned.  The  famous 
Count  of  Tendilla  was  appointed  Captain-General  of 
the  province.  The  interests  of  the  Church  were  com- 
mitted to  Hernando  de  Talavera,  Archbishop  of  Gra- 
nada, a  prelate  in  whose  mind  fanaticism  never  at- 
tained predominance  over  the  noble  impulses  which 
assert  the  dignity  of  human  nature;  and  whose  liber- 
ality, rare  in  his  age  and  profession,  never  refused 
indulgence  and  compassion  to  those  of  different  blood 
or  hostile  faith.  To  these  two  representatives  of  royal 
and  ecclesiastical  authority  was  added  as  an  adviser, 
and  an  interpreter  of  the  4aty  of  capitulation,  which 
he  himself  had  drafted,  Hernando  de  Zaf ra,  secretary 
of  the  Cathplic  sovereigns,  a  man  of  talent,  intelli- 
gence, and  spotless  integrity,  who  enjoyed  the  confi- 
dence of  his  superiors,  and  who,  while  conspicuously 
devout,  was  far  less  tinctured  with  the  prejudices  of 
the  time  than  his  theological  education  and  previous 
associations  would  seem  to  imply. 

Under  the  administration  of  these  three  dignitaries, 
the  territory  of  Granada  once  more  assumed  an  ap- 
pearance of  prosperity.  Their  probity  won  the  confi- 
dence of  the  Moors,  which  had  been  shaken  by  the 


280  History  of  the 

arbitrary  and  indefensible  proceedings  following  the 
surrender.  The  capital,  fallen  into  neglect  and  decay 
during  years  of  insurrection  and  war,  was  repaired; 
new  streets  were  opened,  sanitary  regulations  were 
enforced,  the  markets  were  again  crowded  with 
traders;  the  Vega,  long  the  scene  of  desolation,  began 
to  blossom  once  more  under  the  patient  hands  of  the 
industrious  laborer.  While  a  high  sense  of  honor  and 
an  unusual  diplomatic  tact  obtained  for  the  Count  of 
Tendilla  the  respect  of  his  dependents,  it  was  upon 
the  disposition  of  the  Archbishop  that  tiie  security  of 
the  government  and  the  pacification  of  the  Moslems 
principally  depended.  The  first  great  difficulty  was, 
in  reality,  not  with  the  latter,  but  with  the  Christian 
colonists,  who  had  received,  in  recompense  for  real  or 
fictitious  services,  establishments  in  the  dty,  and  whose 
licentious  conduct  provoked  the  animosity  of  the  van- 
quished, and  rendered  the  streets  imsaf e  at  night  for 
wayfarers  of  every  description. 

The  conduct  of  the  Ardibishop  was  beyond  all 
praise.  He  endeavored  by  every  conceivable  means 
to  improve  the  condition  of  his  diocese,  to  revive  de- 
caying  industry,  and  to  promote  the  friendly  relations 
of  the  two  races  whose  previous  traditions  made  com- 
plete fusion  impossible.  He  dispensed  at  all  times 
the  most  unbounded  and  discerning  charity.  He 
caused  public  works  to  be  inaugurated,  by  which  the 
needy  poor  were  provided  with  employment.  His 
apostolic  zeal  never  stooped  to  the  violence  of  perse- 
cution; his  appeals  were  made  to  reason  alone;  and 
his  subordinates,  for  the  effectual  performance  of 
their  duties,  were  compelled  to  learn  the  Arabic  lan- 
guage, in  which  he  himself,  although  far  advanced  in 
years,  became  sufficiently  proficient  to  employ  it  suc- 
cessfully for  the  noble  purposes  of  religious  instruc- 
tion. From  the  printing-presses,  established  by  his 
munificence,  issued  sumptuous  volumes  printed  in 


MooBisH  Empib£  m  £uBOP£  2dl 

Castilian  and  Arabic,  whose  perusal  might  not  only 
arouse  the  interest  of  old  beUever  and  recent  prose- 
lyte, but  could  not  fail  to  alike  confirm  the  faith  and 
facilitate  the  intercourse  of  both  Christian  and  Mos- 
lem. Under  his  direction  schools  were  foimded;  rit- 
uals and  works  embodying  the  doctrines  and  discipline 
of  the  Chiu*ch  translated;  and  regular  conferences 
organized,  wherein,  at  stated  intervals,  the  compara- 
tive merits  of  the  Christian  and  Mohammedan  creeds 
were  publicly  discussed  by  learned  theologians  of  both 
religions. 

This  excellent  prelate,  whose  virtues  are  the  more 
conspicuous  and  admirable  when  contrasted  with  the 
generally  dissolute  character  of  the  ecclesiastics  of  the 
Spanish  court,  voluntarily  renounced  the  larger  por- 
tion of  the  emoluments  of  his  oflSce,  reserving  only 
what  was  sufficient  for  his  immediate  necessities,  and 
dispensing  with  the  pomp  which  the  dignitaries  of 
the  hierarchy  were  accustomed  to  assume  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  their  calling.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  per- 
sons shared  daily  the  hospitality  of  his  table;  his 
boimty  was  enjoyed  ahke  by  officials  of  the  highest 
rank,  by  Moors  of  every  degree,  by  pilgrims  and  trav- 
ellers soliciting  alms.  In  his  visits  to  the  sick  and  the 
unfortunate  he  permanently  impaired  his  health. 
Recognizing  the  importance  of  a  consistent  example, 
he  instituted  extensive  reforms  among  the  clergy. 
Their  luxury  was  repressed,  their  intemperate  zeal 
restrained,  ihe  systematic  observance  of  their  duties 
compelled,  and  tiiose  vices  which  had  long  been  the 
scandal  of  the  pious  were  either  entirely  checked,  or, 
driven  from  public  view,  were  forced  into  seclusion 
for  their  indulgence.  In  every  possible  manner  he 
attempted  to  relieve  the  oppressive  burdens  imposed 
upon  his  parishioners  by  the  fiscal  regulations.  His 
notaries  were  forbidden  to  collect  the  fees,  whidi 
formed  an  important  part  of  the  revenues  of  the 


282  History  of  the 

archiepiscopal  see.  He  interposed  his  authority  to 
prevent  illegal  and  oppressive  exactions  by  the  tax- 
collectors.  In  his  sermons,  and  by  the  exertion  of  his 
authority,  he  discouraged  the  practice  of  professional 
mendicity,  the  scourge  and  the  disgrace  of  both  Cath- 
olic and  Mussulman  countries. 

With  the  secular  and  the  ecclesiastical  power  vested 
in  the  hands  of  such  men  as  the  Count  of  Tendilla  and 
Hernando  de  Talavera,  the  greatest  results  could  not 
fail  of  accomplishment.  The  manners  of  the  Span- 
iards were  insensibly  reformed.  Such  was  the  public 
tranquillity,  that  a  mere  handful  of  soldiers  siifficed 
for  the  garrison  of  the  Alhambra  and  the  guard  of 
the  captain-general.  The  pious  and  unselfish  example 
of  the  Archbishop  soon  bore  fruit.  Great  numbers 
of  Moors  voluntarily  signified  their  desire  to  become 
Christians.  In  one  day  three  thousand  were  baptized, 
not  one  of  whom  ever  afterwards  recanted.  These 
conversions  were  not  obtained  through  suggestions  of 
temporal  advantage  or  the  influence  of  fear;  nor  were 
the  proselytes  admitted  to  communion  without  pre- 
vious instruction  in  the  doctrines  they  were  expected 
to  profess  or  the  duties  they  would  be  required  to  per- 
form. The  affection  and  respect  of  the  Moslems  for 
their  instructor  and  friend  were  imbounded.  They 
called  him  the  "  Holy  Faqui  of  the  Christians."  The 
churches  were  found  unable  to  acconmiodate  the  in- 
creasing numbers  of  converts,  and  altars  and  pulpits 
were  erected  in  the  three  principal  squares  of  the  city; 
the  nightly  brawls  excited  by  the  turbulent  soldiers  of 
fortune,  domiciled  by  the  Conquest  in  the  Moorish 
capital,  became  more  and  more  infrequent;  a  sense 
of  security  began  to  prevail  in  the  commimity;  the 
relations  of  noble  and  vassal  were  modified,  to  the 
decided  advantage  of  the  latter;  ancient  prejudices, 
confirmed  by  the  enmity  of  centuries,  were  softened; 
and  the  political  union  of  the  two  peoples,  which  could 


MooEisH  Empibe  in  Europe  288 

only  be  effected  by  a  just  and  conciKatory  policy,  and 
upon  which,  in  fact,  depended  the  future  prosperity 
of  the  Peninsula,  seemed  at  length  to  offer  a  flatter- 
ing prospect  of  realization. 

Under  these  favorable  auspices,  for  the  space  of 
several  years,  order,  tranquillity,  and  contentment 
reigned  in  Granada.  The  courteous  and  equitable, 
but  firm,  administration  of  the  governor;  the  blame- 
less life,  the  humble  piety,  the  sympathetic  interest  of 
the  Archbishop  had  awakened  the  love  and  compelled 
the  obedience  of  the  tributary  Moslems,  who  com- 
pared with  wonder  and  gratification  the  operation  of 
a  system  of  kindness  and  justice  with  the  arbitrary 
and  violent  measures  of  the  despotism  to  which  they 
had  heretofore  always  been  accustomed.  During  that 
period  many  important  and  tragic  events  transpired. 
Al-Zagal,  oppressed  with  years  and  calamities  and 
broken  in  spirit,  had  gone  into  voluntary  exile.  Boab- 
dil,  by  means  of  an  ignoble  and  treacherous  device, 
whose  adoption  was  alike  unworthy  of  a  monarch  and 
a  Christian,  had  been  deprived  of  the  principality  for 
which  he  had  bartered  his  crown  and  forced  to  retire 
into  Africa.  Every  important  provision  of  the  capit- 
ulation had  been  repeatedly  violated,  and  only  the  tact 
of  those  who  controlled  the  government  of  Granada 
had  prevented  the  most  serious  consequences.  The 
Jews,  imder  circumstances  of  unspeakable  cruelty, 
had  been  expelled  from  the  kingdom.  In  the  hier- 
archy changes  had  taken  place  which  boded  no  good 
to  the  heretic  and  the  suspected  apostate.  Cardinal 
Mendoza,  Primate  of  Spain,  had  died,  and  Francisco 
Ximenes  de  Cisneros,  a  Franciscan  friar  and  the  con- 
fessor of  the  Queen,  had  been  promoted  to  that  ex- 
alted dignity,  whose  power  and  emoluments  rivalled 
those  of  the  crown.  The  life,  the  associations,  the 
studies  of  this  man  had  developed  a  mind  whose  feel- 
ings were  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  narrow  and 


2B4  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

intolerant  spirit  of  the  age.  Without  indulgence  for 
the  inherent  weakness  of  human  nature,  without  pa- 
tience to  await  the  effect  of  the  deliberate  and  rational 
methods  of  discussion  which  promote  religious  convic- 
tion, absolutely  devoid  of  generosity,  of  tenderness,  of 
sympathy,  he  regarded  unquestioning  obedience  to  the 
Church  as  the  most  imperative  of  all  obligations  and 
mortification  of  the  flesh  as  the  most  meritorious  of 
virtues-  He  had  recently  secured  the  appointment  of 
Diego  de  Deza,  one  of  his  creatures,  to  the  place  of 
Inquisitor-G^eneral,  which  gave  him  absolute  control 
of  the  operations  of  the  Holy  OiBce. 

The  characters  of  the  two  great  churchmen  who  in 
succession  dictated  the  policy  of  the  crown,  iliough 
widely  different  in  many  respects,  in  general  faith- 
fully represent  the  prevalent  ideas  and  aspirations  of 
every  class  of  society  in  the  kingdom.  The  aim  of 
both  was  religious  imity,  which  during  the  long  cru- 
sade against  the  infidel  had  usurped  the  place  and  de- 
preciated the  worth  of  patriotism.  Both  governed  the 
sovereign,  and  with  the  sovereign  the  monarchy. 
Both  filled  the  highest  ecclesiastical  office  in  the  Penin- 
sula, an  office  second  in  dignity  and  power  only  to  the 
Papacy.  Both  were  zealous  patrons  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion. One  recommended  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews. 
The  other  inaugurated  the  persecution  of  the  Moris- 
coes.  Both  commanded  armies.  Both  f  oimded  insti- 
tutions of  learning.  Both  were  regarded  at  Rome  as 
the  most  valuable  servants  of  the  Holy  See.  Here, 
however,  all  resemblance  ends.  Mendoza  belonged  to 
the  haughtiest  of  the  Castilian  aristocracy;  he  traced 
his  lineage  in  a  direct  line  to  Roman  patricians  on  one 
side  and  to  the  Gothic  Dukes  of  Cantabria  on  the 
other;  the  Cid  was  his  ancestor,  as  were  also  the  Lords 
of  Biscay;  the  blood  of  royalty  coursed  in  his  veins; 
he  was  the  cousin  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella;  he  was 
nearly  related  to  the  princely  house  of  Infantado, 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  285 

whose  duke  took  precedence  of  all  Spanish  grandees; 
more  than  seventy  titles  of  nobility  were  in  his  family, 
which  was  the  first  in  the  Peninsula  and  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  in  Europe. 

Ximenes  sprang  from  the  people.  His  ancestry, 
while  respectable  and  deserving  recognition  as  of  the 
hidalgo  class,  was  not  noble.  He  renounced  his  bap- 
tismal name  for  that  of  the  founder  of  his  order,  the 
Franciscans.  He  had  no  relatives,  a  fact  which  after- 
wards obtained  for  him  the  Regency. 

The  dignities  of  Mendoza  were  the  most  eminent  in 
the  hierarchy  and  the  kingdom,  and  were  all  conferred 
before  he  had  reached  the  meridian  of  hfe.  He  was 
Bishop  of  Calahorra  and  Siguenza,  Archbishop  of 
Seville  and  Toledo,  Primate  of  Spaui,  a  Prince  of  the 
Church,  Patriarch  of  Alexandria,  Legate  of  the 
Pope.  He  became  Chancellor  of  Castile.  He  was 
appointed  Captain-General  under  both  Henry  IV. 
and  Isabella.  He  was  most  prominent  in  all  the 
events  of  the  civil  and  the  Moorish  wars.  He  won  the 
battle  of  Olmedo  for  Juan  II.  He  defeated  the  King 
of  Portugal  on  the  field  of  Toro.  At  twenty-four 
he  was  practically  minister  of  state.  At  sixty-four 
he  planned  the  last  campaign  before  Granada  as  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  besieging  army.  His  hands 
raised  upon  the  Tower  of  Comares  the  archiepiscopal 
cross  of  his  diocese,  the  symbol  of  Christian  suprem- 
acy and  ecclesiastical  power. 

In  habits,  tastes,  demeanor,  and  personal  appear- 
ance a  marked  contrast  existed  between  the  two  most 
famous  prelates  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Mendoza 
was  epicurean,  Ximenes  ascetic.  The  table  of  the 
Great  Cardinal  was  furnished  with  every  luxury. 
His  garments  were  of  the  finest  quality,  as  befitted 
his  rank.  Jewels  sparkled  upon  his  fingers.  His 
cleanliness  excited  the  wonder  and  often  the  disappro- 
bation of  the  pious,  as  savoring  of  heresy.    None  but 


286  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

youths  of  distinguished  birtii  were  admitted  to  his 
household.  His  morals  partook  of  the  laxity  of  the 
time.  The  ladies  honored  with  his  attentions  were 
members  of  the  aristocracy,  daughters  of  noble 
houses,  maids  of  honor  to  the  Queen.  His  three  sons 
were  legitimatized  by  Pope  Innocent  VIII.  in  1486 
and  by  Isabella  in  1487.  Through  their  matrimonial 
connections,  the  blood  of  this  famous  ecclesiastical 
grandee  has  been  mingled  with  that  of  many  of  the 
proudest  families  of  Castile. 

While  the  promotion  of  Mendoza  to  the  highest 
offices  of  Church  and  State  was  due  partly  to  his  illus- 
trious ancestry  and  partly  to  his  eminent  talents,  that 
of  Ximenes  was  derived  entirely  from  his  reputation 
for  piety  and  wisdom.  Honors  were  literally  thrust 
upon  him.  With  real  or  affected  humility,  he  at- 
tempted to  evade  the  search  and  disobey  the  conmiands 
of  those  who  wished  to  raise  him  to  absolute  power. 
He  loudly  protested  his  unwortiiiness.  He  declared 
his  preference  for  the  duties  and  the  seclusion  of  a 
private  station.  Even  while  at  the  height  of  his  great- 
ness, he  never  abandoned  the  habits  of  the  monastery. 
He  carried  into  the  splendid  archiepiscopal  see  of  To- 
ledo, the  highest  post  in  the  ecclesiastical  system  of 
Europe,  the  practices  of  the  penitent  and  the  anchor- 
ite. Under  his  cardinal's  robes  of  scarlet  and  gold 
he  wore  constantly  the  cowl  and  knotted  girdle  of  the 
Franciscan  friars.  A  haircloth  shirt,  which  was  never 
changed,  irritated  his  flesh.  His  diet  was  frugal  to 
excess.  "  He  only  ate  'enough,'*  says  his  biographer, 
"  to  sustain  the  little  life  that  penance  had  left  him." 
His  food  consisted  principally  of  herbs,  his  only  drink 
was  water.  His  virtue  was  impregnable, — even  St. 
Anthony  himself  might  have  envied  him  his  constancy 
under  temptation.  To  him  was  never  imputed  the  re- 
proach of  frequent  ablution,  the  stigma  of  the  Mos- 
lem heretic.    The  constant  use  of  a  haircloth  under- 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubope  287 

garment,  while  not  conducive  to  personal  purity,  is 
readily  productive  of  those  physical  conditions  which, 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  were  almost  infallible  signs  of  a 
good  Christian. 

The  early  life  of  Mendoza  was  passed  amidst  the 
atmosphere  of  the  most  dignified  and  punctilious 
court  in  Europe.  His  experience  from  boyhood  fitted 
him  for  any  service  to  which  he  might  be  assigned  by 
tibe  order  of  his  king.  He  was  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  arts  of  diplomacy.  He  had  led  his  vassals  in 
many  a  bloody  encounter.  With  the  skill  of  a  suc- 
cessful general  he  had  directed  the  movements  of 
large  bodies  of  troops  in  action.  In  every  conflict  he 
had  fearlessly  exposed  himself  to  danger.  He  was 
indulgent  to  the  faults  of  his  ecclesiastical  inferiors. 
For  the  glory  of  the  Church  he  built  and  endowed  the 
College  of  Valladolid.  The  Hospital  of  Santa  Cruz 
at  Toledo  was  a  superb  monument  to  his  munificence. 
He  expended  great  sums  in  charity.  The  debasing 
vice  of  bigotry  was  far  from  dominating  his  character. 

The  person  of  Mendoza  was  tall,  erect,  and  com- 
manding; his  features  handsome;  his  bearing  that  of 
a  soldier  and  a  gentleman;  his  manners  affable  and 
unaffected;  in  all  respects  he  was  the  model  of  dig- 
nity, of  gentleness,  and  of  courtesy.  His  influence  in 
the  government  was  so  great  that  he  was  everywhere 
known  as  "  The  Third  King  of  Spain."  It  was  said 
of  him  as  of  Caesar,  "  Quicquid  volebat,  valde  vole- 
bat." 

Ximenes  brought  to  the  management  of  a  great 
empire  none  of  that  familiarity  with  public  affairs  so 
essential  to  the  statesman.  His  life  had  been  bounded 
by  the  narrow  horizon  of  the  cloister.  His  reading 
had  been  confined  to  the  homilies  and  polemics  of  the 
Fathers.  At  the  assault  of  Oran,  instead  of  leading 
his  troops,  he  retired  to  pray  in  his  tent.  The  univer- 
sity he  established  at  Alcaic,  as  a  rival  to  that  of  Sala- 


288  HlSTOEY  OP  THE 

manca,  was  far  from  realizing  his  hopes.  His  ap- 
pearance disclosed  his  obscure  lineage  and  his  plebeian 
associations.  His  form  was  bent,  his  face  emaciated, 
his  manners  shy  and  awkward.  He  possessed  none  of 
that  winning  grace  which  is  the  common  birthright  of 
his  countrymen.  In  the  administration  of  his  office  he 
was  arbitrary  and  irasdble.  His  obstinacy  was  only 
exceeded  by  the  severity  with  which  he  enforced  his 
decrees;  his  pursuit  of  heresy  and  monastic  license, 
only  by  the  vigor  with  which  he  encountered  and 
crushed  all  opposition.  His  reputation  for  ability,  for 
learning,  for  sanctity,  for  every  attribute  that  evokes 
the  admiring  applause  of  mankind,  far  surpassed  that 
of  his  predecessor  among  all  ranks  of  his  contempo- 
raries. 

Such  were  the  two  chiu*chmen,  both  of  whom  had 
obtained  the  finest  education  afforded  by  their  age  and 
country;  both  founders  of  great  colleges;  both  gifted 
with  extraordinary  talents;  both  clothed  with  des{)otic 
power;  to  whose  agency  is  to  be  principally  attributed 
the  absolute  annihilation  of  Jewish  and  Mosl^n  sci- 
ence and  literature  in  the  Spanish  Peninsula. 

It  is  impossible  for  us  at  this  distance  of  time  to 
fully  appreciate  the  enormous  influence  wielded  by 
a  prelate  who  dispensed  the  wealth  and  patronage  of 
the  ecclesiastical  establishment  of  the  Spanish  mon- 
archy. His  capacity  for  good  or  evil  was  practically 
unlimited.  He  was  the  keeper  of  the  royal  conscience. 
The  sentiments  of  every  community,  tiie  decision  of 
important  questions  of  diplomacy,  the  adoption  of 
measures  vital  to  the  permanence  of  national  exist- 
ence, the  prosecution  of  war,  the  negotiation  of  peace, 
all  depended  upon  the  opinions  and  advice  which  ema- 
nated from  the  throne  of  the  metropolitan  see  of 
Toledo.  When  to  the  prestige  and  revenues  of  the 
primacy  were  added  the  mysterious  procedure  and 
dreadful  energy  of  the  Inquisition,  the  formidable 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  289 

character  of  the  power  possessed  by  Ximenes  may  be 
conjectured.  His  will  was  law  in  every  parish  in  the 
kingdom.  Through  the  fears  and  mistaken  devotion 
of  a  superstitious  queen  he  was  already  the  virtual 
ruler  of  Castile.  His  zeal  was  the  more  dangerous 
from  the  fact  that  it  was  sincere;  no  element  of 
hyjKKsrisy  discredited  the  motives  or  impaired  the 
supremacy  of  this  imcompromising  fanatic.  The 
sweeping  reforms  he  instituted  among  the  clergy,  and 
tiie  rigor  with  which  all  disobedience  was  punished, 
awakened  the  resentment  of  every  ecclesiastic  whose 
lax  morality  or  religious  indifference  had  rendered 
him  the  object  of  official  admonition  or  discipline. 
Those  who  appealed  to  the  Pope  were  thrown  into 
prison.  Petitions  for  indulgence  were  treated  with 
contempt.  Remonstrances  were  chastised  by  sus- 
pension from  functions  and  deprivation  of  benefices. 
The  energy  of  his  measures,  the  rudeness  of  his  man- 
ners, the  arbitrary,  almost  brutal,  defiance  of  prece- 
dent and  custom  with  which  he  treated  his  inferiors, 
his  well-known  control  over  the  infamous  tribunal 
whose  public  sacrifices  in  llie  name  of  religious  unity 
had  already  terrorized  the  kingdom,  his  incorrupti- 
bility and  self -mortification,  invested  the  office  of 
Ximenes  with  more  than  imperial  authority.  Isabella 
congratulated  herself  on  her  discernment.  Her  pious 
ambition  was  excited.  In  the  hands  of  this  active 
prelate  the  Moors  of  Granada  might  be  speedily 
Christianized.  The  slow  and  pacific  methods  of  Tala- 
vera  had  frequently  aroused  the  displeasure  and  in- 
voked the  censures  of  the  impatient  Queen.  Her 
partiality  for  the  eccentric  and  determined  church- 
man whose  enforcement  of  long-neglected  monastic 
regulations  and  whose  condemnation  of  the  luxurious 
habits  of  his  subordinates  had  procured  for  him  the 
open  homage  and  secret  execration  of  bishop  and  friar 
aUke,  whose  inflexible  decision,  whose  disregard  of 


240  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

humanity  and  justice  whenever  he  conceived  the  in- 
terests of  the  Churdi  were  involved,  rendered  him  so 
offensively  conspicuous,  suggested  him  at  once  as  a 
pre-eminently  suitable  instrument  for  the  extermina- 
tion of  Moslem  heresy  and  the  rapid  propagation  of 
the  Faith;  He  was,  therefore,  ordered  to  Grianada, 
nominally  as  the  adviser  of  Talavera  in  the  work  of 
spiritual  regeneration,  with  the  secret  imderstanding, 
however,  that  his  superior  rank  would  exempt  him 
from  even  the  apparent  exercise  of  official  duties  in 
a  subordinate  capacity.  His  first  step,  and  one  of 
which  it  is  scarcely  possible  that  Isabella  could  have 
been  ignorant,  was  to  procure  a  formal  authorization 
from  the  Holy  Office  to  investigate  and  punish  the 
crime  of  heresy. 

Armed  with  this  document,  and  confident  in  the 
support  of  the  Queen,  Ximenes  arrived  at  Granada 
in  October,  1499.  His  conduct  from  the  beginning 
was  marked  by  unflinching  audacity  and  resolution. 
The  prestige  of  his  dignity  and  the  arrogance  of  his 
manners  at  once  overawed  the  gentle  Archbishop, 
who,  renouncing  the  means  which  had  achieved  sudi 
great  success,  henceforth  abandoned  himself  blindly 
to  the  merciless  impulses  of  his  distinguished  supe- 
rior. The  latter  was  not  long  in  profiting  by  the 
ascendency  he  had  obtained.  He  claimed  for  himself 
supreme  and  dictatorial  authority  in  matters  not  only 
ecclesiastical,  but  in  questions  often  affecting  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  civil  power.  His  first  measures 
evinced  none  of  the  unrelenting  severity  of  the  in- 
quisitor; they  were  corrupt,  politic,  conciliatory.  The 
f  aquis  and  santons,  whose  influence  with  their  coim- 
trymen  was  supposed  to  be  the  greatest  and  whose 
mercenary  character  had  been  notorious  in  the  evil 
days  preceding  the  surrender,  were  enlisted  in  the 
service  of  conversion  by  magniflcent  gifts  of  silken 
garments,  jewels,  and  gold.    With  their  zeal  quick- 


MooEiSH  Empire  in  Eubofe  24i1 

ened  by  these  potent  arguments,  the  new  missionaries 
had  no  difficulty  in  securing  multitudes  of  proselytes. 
Their  ardor  was  further  stimulated  by  forcible  repre- 
sentations of  the  inconveniences  and  trials  which 
would  inevitably  be  visited  upon  all  who  persisted  in 
their  adherence  to  error.  Great  emulation  was  ex- 
cited by  these  extraordinary  inducements  to  Moham- 
medan apostasy;  each  faqui  reckoned  with  pride  the 
number  of  converts  he  had  conducted  to  the  altar;  the 
unprincipled  populace  welcomed,  with  feigned  and 
interested  enthusiasm,  a  religious  compliance  pur- 
chased with  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness;  the 
Great  Mosque  of  the  Albaydn — ^in  which  quarter  the 
Moors  had,  by  a  highly  impolitic  decree,  been  con- 
centrated after  the  Conquest — ^was  consecrated  to 
Christianity,  and  within  its  precincts  more  than  four 
thousand  iJleged  penitents  received  the  rite  of  bap- 
tism. This  ceremony  was  effected  without  previous 
examination  or  instruction;  and  the  candidates  werie 
equally  ignorant  of  their  duties  and  of  the  dreadful 
consequences  involved  in  the  sin  of  recantation.  From 
that  moment  their  moral  responsibility  was  fixed.  No 
excuse  could  be  pleaded  for  the  unconscious  mainten- 
ance of  heretical  opinions  or  even  for  involuntary  in- 
fractions of  ecclesiastical  discipline;  the  voice  of  the 
informer  was  ever  ready  to  denounce,  the  hand  of 
the  inquisitor  to  punish. 

This  triumph  of  the  Faith,  while  exceedingly 
gratifying,  was  proportionately  expensive.  The  en- 
tire available  revenues  of  the  See  of  Toledo,  amount- 
ing to  seventy  thousand  ducats,  were  expended  in  its 
accomplishment.  Even  this  great  sum  proved  insuffi- 
cient, and  Ximenes  was  forced  to  pledge  his  private 
credit  to  appease  the  demands  of  the  crowd  of  mer- 
cenary sycophants  and  spurious  converts  who  claimed 
the  reward  of  their  abasement  and  dishonor.  Among 
the  sincere  disciples  of  the  Prophet,  and  there  were 

Vol.  III.--16 


242  History  of  the 

many  in  Granada,  the  course  of  their  perfidious 
brethren  was  regarded  with  unconcealed  abhorrence. 
The  more  earnest  and  devout  of  these  endeavored  to 
coimteract  the  growing  inclination  to  religious  defec- 
tion by  pubUc  exhortations  and  remonstrances.  It 
was  not  in  the  imperious  nature  of  Hie  Primate  to 
brook  such  opposition.  The  offending  faquis  were 
thrown  into  prison.  History  has  not  revealed  the  na- 
ture of  the  arguments  employed  to  shake  their  con- 
stancy, but  the  persecuted  Moslems  were  evidently 
not  of  the  stufi^  of  which  martyrs  and  saints  are  made. 
One  after  another  recanted  and  were  baptized;  many 
of  their  fellow-sectaries  profited  by  their  example; 
resistance  was  for  the  time  efi^ectually  suppressed; 
and  Ximenes  pursued,  without  molestation,  his  favor- 
ite and  inexorable  method  of  wholesale  conversion. 
To  his  narrow  and  arbitrary  mind  the  employment 
of  the  most  radical  measures  seemed  to  promise 
the  greatest  assurances  of  success.  In  the  further- 
ance of  this  idea,  and  with  a  view  to  eradicating  the 
apparent  cause  of  the  evil,  he  now  planned  what  he 
considered  a  master-stroke  of  policy.  Without  pre- 
vious notice,  a  diligent  search  was  made  of  every 
house  throughout  the  entire  dty,  and  every  manuscript 
in  the  Arabic  language  whidi  could  be  found  was 
seized.  The  number  thus  secured  amounted  to  nearly 
a  million.  Among  them  were  not  only  superb  copies 
of  the  Koran,  but  relics  of  the  great  Ommeyade  body 
of  literature,  which  had  been  the  pride  of  the  imperial 
court  of  Cordova,  and  had  been  cherished  as  priceless 
through  many  generations;  the  contents  of  the  public 
libraries,  whose  preservation  and  increase  had  been  the 
especial  care  of  the  enlightened  Alhamares;  treatises 
on  history  and  science,  which  described  the  events  and 
pictured  the  intellectual  advancement  of  what  had 
been  the  most  learned  and  polished  of  nations;  and 
the  literary  treasures  of  every  scholar  and  philosopher 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubope  248 

in  the  capital.  The  works  on  chemistry,  botany,  as- 
tronomy, and  medicine,  subjects  which  had  always 
engaged  the  diligent  curiosity  of  the  Spanish  Arab, 
predominated.  There,  too,  were  doubtless  to  be  found 
many  translations  of  the  classics,  inheritances  from 
tibe  Grecian  school  of  Alexandria, — thenceforth  for- 
ever lost,— which  had  found  their  way  into  the  Penin- 
sula from  the  distant  banks  of  the  Nile.  These  vol- 
umes exhibited  in  the  beauty  of  their  calligraphy  and 
the  magnificence  of  their  adornment  all  the  pomp,  the 
pride,  the  luxury,  of  Saracen  art.  Beautiful  ara- 
besques in  gold,  silver,  and  many  colors,  embellished 
pages  written  with  a  delicacy  and  regularity  whidi 
equalled  that  of  the  finest  type.  The  bindings  were 
of  inlaid  leather;  some  were  embroidered;  others  were 
incrusted  with  tortoise-sheU,  mother-of-pearl,  ivory, 
and  jewels;  the  clasps  were  of  solid  gold.  All  of 
these  inestimable  stores  of  learning  were  heaped  in 
one  immense  pile  in  the  centre  of  the  Plaza  de  la  Bab- 
al-Rambla,  set  on  fire,  and  consumed.  The  impor- 
tance of  this  sacrifice  to  bigotry  may  be  inferred  from 
the  fact  that  there  was  probably  in  the  entire  world 
no  collection  of  equal  extent  and  value  as  that  de- 
stroyed by  Ximenes  in  this  historic  square,  where,  in 
the  time  of  the  emirs,  national  festivals  had  been  cele- 
brated, and  the  emulation  of  distinguished  warriors 
in  the  martial  sports  of  the  tournament  excited  by 
the  presence  of  the  beauty  and  the  gallantry  of  the 
Moslem  court;  where  the  differences  of  Castilian 
princes  had  been  settled  by  a  chivalric  appeal  to  arms; 
where  cultured  audiences  had  witnessed  the  friendly 
rivalry  of  Moorish  poets  and  troubadours,  and  the  re- 
ward of  the  victor  had  been  bestowed  by  the  hand  of 
royalty,  all  little  suspecting  that  on  the  scene  of  their 
pleasures  would  one  day  be  exhibited  such  a  melan- 
choly spectacle. 
The  pecuniary  loss  entailed  by  this  vandalism  was 


244  HlffTOEY  OF  THE 

of  itself  immense,  but  the  destructive  effect  it  pro- 
duced upon  society  was  incalculable.  By  it  periled 
unique  literary  monmnents  which  it  was  impossible  to 
replace;  it  offered  a  premium  upon  ignorance,  for 
through  such  deeds  alone  was  the  favor  of  tiie  all- 
powerful  sacerdotal  order  to  be  secured;  it  discour- 
aged learning  to  such  a  degree  that  from  that  time 
forth  no  Moslem  writer  of  distinction  appeared  to 
illustrate  the  annals  or  depict  the  manners  of  his  race; 
and  it  annihilated  in  a  single  hour  the  precious  accu- 
mulation of  ages,  from  which  the  modem  historian 
might  have  collected  data  relative  to  Moorish  civili- 
zation elsewhere  unattainable  in  the  world  of  letters. 
The  intellectual  degradation  resulting  from  this  in- 
tolerant act  of  Ximenes  was  most  deplorable.  All 
knowledge  was  thereafter  filtered  through  the  narrow 
channels  of  ecclesiastical  inspection  and  thoroughly 
cleansed  of  every  suspicion  of  heresy;  the  missal  and 
the  breviary  supplanted  the  works  of  Arabic  annalists 
and  philosophers;  and  the  enduring  results  of  this 
crime  against  learning  and  of  its  pernicious  example 
are  still  apparent  in  the  remarkably  illiterate  and 
fanatical  character  of  the  inhabitants  of  Granada. 
Three  hundred  volumes  on  the  science  of  medicine 
were  saved  from  the  flames,  for  the  library  of  the 
University  of  Alcala;  but  no  entreaties  or  remon- 
strances from  his  companions  could  move  the  fero- 
cious bigot  to  exempt  from  tbe  sacrifice  volumes 
whose  jewelled  covers  and  clasps  of  gold  represented 
in  themselves  a  princely  fortune. 

The  destruction  of  Arabic  manuscripts  was  the  first 
step  towards  the  employment  of  violence.  With 
characteristic  energy,  the  Primate  availed  himsel£ 
of  the  authority  with  which  he  had  been  armed  by  the 
Holy  OflSce.  Persons  suspected  of  heresy  were  sum- 
marily seized,  imprisoned,  tortured;  and  those  who 
for  the  moment  escaped  experienced  all  the  indignities 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eukope  246 

which  could  be  inflicted  by  the  hands  of  ecclesiastical 
malice  strengthened  by  boundless  power.  These 
outrages,  and  the  repeated  violation  of  the  rights 
granted  in  their  treaty  with  the  crown,  aroused  the 
populace  to  desperation;  and  the  arrest  of  a  widow, 
whose  wealth  had  attracted  the  cupidity  of  the  authori- 
ties, was  the  signal  for  a  dangerous  revolt.  The  gates 
of  the  Albaydn  were  closed  and  guarded.  The  streets 
were  barricaded.  The  towers  were  occupied,  and 
Ximenes,  whom  the  indignant  threats  of  the  people 
openly  devoted  to  death,  was  besieged  by  an  armed 
multitude  in  his  palace,  from  which  perilous  situation 
he  was  with  difficulty  released  by  the  Count  of  Ten- 
dilla.  The  news  of  the  insurrection  called  down  upon 
the  tyrannical  prelate  the  wrath  of  his  sovereigns,  but 
the  singular  credit  he  enjoyed  and  the  vast  influence 
he  was  able  to  wield  soon  restored  him  to  royal  favor. 
It  was  now  resolved  to  carry  matters  to  extremes, 
and  the  choice  of  baptism  or  death  was  offered  to  the 
Moors,  whose  rebellion,  although  provoked  by  the  op- 
pression of  their  masters,  was  declared  to  have  caused 
a  forf eitiu'e  of  all  their  privileges.  The  disaffection 
spread  rapidly  to  the  provinces;  the  mountaineers  of 
the  Alpujarras  and  the  adjacent  rugged  coimtry, 
whidi  were  the  resorts  of  bands  of  desperate  outlaws 
who  entertained  intimate  relations  with  the  Barbary 
corsairs,  became  involved;  and  the  Catholic  monarchs, 
so  far  from  the  religious  triumph  which  they  had 
anticipated,  saw  themselves  suddenly  confronted  by 
a  war  which  promised  to  assume  formidable  propor- 
tions. Space  will  not  permit  a  detailed  description  of 
the  repeated  insurrections  and  final  subjugation  of 
the  Moriscoes,  and  only  the  more  important  events  of 
that  memorable  struggle  can  be  touched  upon.  The 
mountain  ranges  of  Southern  Spain  were  admirably 
adapted  to  the  desultory  tactics  in  which  they  excelled, 
and  the  prolongation  of  the  struggle  was  the  natural 


246  History  of  the 

consequence  of  the  difficulties  of  the  ground,  of  the 
boldness  and  activity  of  the  insurgents,  of  the  inca- 
pacity of  the  Castilian  conunanders,  and  of  the  pro- 
verbial want  of  discipline  and  fatal  recklessness  of 
the  Christian  soldiery.  The  general  disarmament  of 
the  Moors  had  deprived  them  of  the  greater  part 
of  their  weapons,  but  this  disadvantage  was  eventually 
repaired  by  the  spoils  of  battle  and  by  the  enterprise 
of  Aragonese  and  Castihan  traders,  who,  imdismayed 
by  the  prospect  of  detection  and  punishment,  were 
always  ready,  for  an  extravagant  compensation,  to 
furnish  the  enemies  of  their  king  with  arms  of  the 
most  approved  pattern  and  workmanship.  The  oper- 
ations of  the  contending  forces  were  prosecuted  with 
a  cruelty  hitherto  unknown,  even  in  the  bloody  annals 
of  the  Peninsula;  and  the  tdtimate  triumph  of  the 
Spaniards  was  signalized  by  acts  of  such  merciless 
vengeance  that  the  foreign  soldiers  of  fortune,  enlisted 
for  plunder  and  long  seasoned  by  bloodshed,  were  ap- 
palled by  their  dreadful  atrocity.  The  massacre  of 
the  population  of  a  place  taken  by  storm  was  the  rule 
and  not  the  exception;  the  wounded  remaining  on 
fields  of  battle  were  exterminated;  prisoners  were 
subjected  to  horrible  tortures ;  every  crime  suggested 
by  the  incentives  of  lust,  rapine,  and  hereditary  aver- 
sion was  perpetrated;  and  the  most  desirable  fate  of 
a  captive  was  to  be  consigned  for  life  to  the  tyranny 
of  an  unfeeling  master  dominated  by  every  vice,  in- 
accessible to  mercy,  and  imrestrained  by  any  law  either 
of  God  or  man. 

An  army  of  nearly  a  hundred  thousand  men  assem- 
bled, at  the  summons  of  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  for 
the  suppression  of  the  insurrection,  at  Alhendin  near 
Granada.  Formidable  in  numbers  alone,  this  great 
host  was  composed  of  materials  very  difi^erent  from 
the  soldiery  that  had  achieved  the  Conquest.  It  was 
indifferently  equipped,  unorganized,  and  absolutely 


MooEisH  Empise  m  Eueope  247 

deficient  in  discipline.  The  flower  of  the  Castilian 
youth,  inspired  by  the  discoveries  of  Columbus,  had 
sought  new  scenes  of  adventure  on  the  shores  of  mys- 
terious lands  beyond  the  ocean.  Commercial  pursuits 
had  weakened  the  military  spirit;  a  peace  of  many 
years  had  impaired  the  energy  of  the  nation  and  inca- 
pacitated, for  the  exposure  of  a  perilous  service,  a 
people  who  had  been  reared  and  nurtured  amidst  the 
din  of  arms.  The  blessings  of  internal  tranquillity, 
almost  forgotten  in  the  conflict  of  centuries,  had  once 
more  permitted  the  unmolested  exercise  of  the  me- 
chanical arts  and  the  practice  of  agricultural  industry. 
The  better  class  of  citizens,  in  the  full  enjoyment  of 
security,  were  loath  to  resume,  for  the  sake  of  a  re- 
ligious principle,  whose  enforcement  promised  much 
danger  and  trifling  advantage,  the  hazards  of  the  un- 
certain game  of  war.  The  army  was  therefore  mainly 
composed  of  the  retainers  and  vassals  of  the  nobility, 
whose  duty  required  their  presence,  and  an  innumer- 
able horde  of  penniless  adventurers,  who  sought,  in 
the  excitements  and  vicissitudes  of  a  campaign  against 
the  infidel,  an  opportunity  for  the  improvement  of 
their  desperate  fortunes.  Aided  by  a  smaller  force 
operating  from  Almeria,  the  rebellion  was,  after  some 
fighting  and  much  cruel  retaliation,  put  down;  the 
insurgents,  impelled  by  the  promise  of  immunity  or 
the  menace  of  death,  consented  to  embrace  the  Cath- 
olic faith;  the  ancient  chroniclers  relate  with  becoming 
pride  that  during  a  single  day  ten  thousand  proselytes 
were  baptized  in  the  Sierra  de  Filabres  alone;  and 
through  material  inducements,  or  from  the  contagion 
of  example,  the  inhabitants  of  Baza  and  Guadix,  of 
the  Alpujarras,  and  of  the  mountain  regions  to  the 
south  as  far  as  the  sea,  were  reckoned  among  those 
who  acknowledged  the  authority  of  the  Church  and 
accepted  the  doctrines  of  Christianity. 

With  the  advent  of  the  sixteenth  century,  a  royal 


248  HisroBY  of  the 

decree  was  promulgated,  establishing  at  Granada  the 
same  civil  jurisdiction  which  obtained  in  the  other  pro- 
vincial capitals  of  the  kingdom.  The  magistracy  was 
nominally  divided  between  the  Spaniards  and  the 
Moors,  but  the  equaUty  was  only  apparent,  and  the 
preponderance  of  power  virtually  remained  with  the 
conquerors.  Allured  by  the  delusive  prospect  of  a 
voice  in  the  affairs  of  the  government,  and  despairing 
of  assistance  from  their  brethren  in  Africa,  whose 
good  offices  they  had  repeatedly  but  vainly  solicited, 
the  Moors  of  the  Albaydn  finally  consented  to  bap- 
tism. They  required,  as  a  condition  of  their  compli- 
ance, permission  to  wear  their  national  costume  and 
to  use  the  Arabic  language,  privileges  which  were  sub- 
sequently made  pretexts  for  oppression.  It  was  also 
agreed  tibat  the  Holy  Office  should  not  be  established 
at  Granada  for  the  space  of  forty  years;  a  provision 
which  ecclesiastical  acumen  readily  evaded  by  placing 
that  dty  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Inquisitorial 
tribimal  of  Cordova. 

Still  dissatisfied  with  the  slow  progress  made  by  her 
ministers  in  bringing  the  obdurate  Moors  wiiiiin  the 
pale  of  Christianity,  Isabella  a  second  time  ordered 
Ximenes  to  Granada.  Instructed  by  his  prior  expe- 
rience, he  conducted  himself  with  more  discretion  than 
before;  but  his  proselytes,  driven  into  the  Church  by 
hundreds,  without  previous  instruction,  remained,  like 
their  predecessors,  profoundly  ignorant  of  its  doc- 
trines and  of  the  responsibilities  imposed  upon  them 
by  their  enforced  conversion.  This  time  the  stay  of 
the  Primate  was  short;  his  ascetic  habits  had  impaired 
a  constitution  never  extremely  robust;  and  a  pulmo- 
nary affection  of  a  serious  character,  whose  sjrmptoms 
were  aggravated  by  imremitting  excitement  and  toil, 
speedily  developed.  The  available  resources  of  medi- 
cal science  were  imable  to  relieve  his  malady,  and, 
abandoned  as  hopeless  by  regular  practitioners,  in  the 


MooBiSH  Emfibe  in  Eubofe  249 

hour  of  his  extremity  he  was  induced  to  submit  to  the 
treatment  of  a  venerable  Moorish  woman,  who  com- 
bined with  Arabic  science  the  mysterious  and  uncanny 
ceremonies  of  the  witch  and  the  empiric.  Under  her 
ministrations  the  distinguished  suflFerer  improved  with 
a  rapidity  which,  under  other  conditions,  would  have 
been  deemed  miraculous ;  and  he  was  soon  able  to  leave 
the  scene  of  his  labors,  owing  his  life  to  the  skill  of  a 
member  of  that  race  which  he  had  relentlessly  perse- 
cuted,— ^af  ter  a  career  which,  however  short,  had  made 
a  more  prof oimd  and  fatal  impress  upon  the  policy  of 
the  Spanish  Crown  than  that  of  any  other  dignitary 
of  his  time,  and  which  was  destined  subsequently  to 
exert  a  powerful  influence  upon  the  political  fate  and 
the  future  civilization  of  Europe. 

A  sequence  of  calamities,  traceable  to  royal  perfidy 
and  ecclesiastical  usurpation,  was  now  about  to  de- 
scend upon  the  Spanish  monarchy.  The  apprehen- 
sions of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Serrania  of  Ronda  had 
been  aroused  by  reports  of  the  injustice  and  violence 
visited  upon  tibeir  countrymen  of  Granada.  The 
Moorish  citizens  of  the  ancient  capital  and  its  environs 
were  now  all  nominally  Christians.  The  persuasive 
methods  of  Talavera  and  the  severity  of  Ximenes  had 
enrolled  upon  the  registers  of  the  Chiu-ch  more  than 
seventy  thousand  proselytes.  Under  the  circum- 
stances, the  professions  of  a  vast  majority  of  these 
were  necessarily  insincere.  It  was  an  example  of  the 
organization  of  hypocrisy  upon  a  gigantic  scale,  where 
religious  principle  was  subordinated  to  material  inter- 
ests, and  an  outward  observance  of  superstitious  rites 
was  accepted  as  an  equivalent  of  earnest  devotion  and 
genuine  piety.  These  reputed  converts  had  not,  how- 
ever, by  any  means  abandoned  the  faith  of  their  fore- 
fathers. They  diligently  celebrated  its  rites  in  secret. 
Their  children  were  early,  and  with  secrecy,  instructed 
in  the  doctrines  of  Islam.    In  defiance  of  royal  de*- 


250  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

crees,  they  practised  many  suspicious  ceremonies  not 
recognized  even  by  orthodox  Moslems,  performed  in- 
cantations, wore  talismans  and  charms.  A  concealed 
system  of  commimication  was  established  between 
them  and  their  brethren  in  the  provinces;  and  each 
important  event  that  took  place  in  the  city  was  known 
within  a  few  hours  to  every  inhabitant  of  the  sierras. 
The  Moors  of  the  Serrania  of  Ronda  did  not  receive 
the  Gk)spel  with  the  same  docility  as  their  kinsmen  of 
the  Alpujarras,  whose  doubts  had  been  speedily  re- 
moved by  the  cogent  argument  of  a  hundred  thousand 
armed  men.  The  missionaries,  who  tried  to  carry  mat- 
ters with  a  high  hand,  were  maltreated  and  driven 
away.  The  mountaineers  rose;  the  country  was  swept 
by  bands  of  merciless  brigands ;  the  corsairs  of  Africa 
repaired  in  large  numbers  to  the  scene  of  booty  and 
adventure;  the  passes  were  barricaded;  and  Ihe  re- 
gion in  the  vicinity  of  Ronda  assumed  the  appearance 
of  a  fortified  camp.  Offers  of  amnesty,  conditional 
on  baptism,  were  received  with  scorn.  An  army  under 
Don  Alonso  de  Aguilar,  the  Coimt  of  Cif  uentes,  and 
the  Coimt  of  Urena  then  entered  the  mountains.  The 
Moors,  evacuating  their  villages,  slowly  retired  to  the 
Sierra  Bermeja,  where  they  made  a  final  stand.  The 
impetuosity  and  want  of  discipline  of  the  Christians 
lured  them  into  a  disadvantageous  situation,  whence 
there  was  no  escape.  After  a  day  of  fighting,  they 
were  surrounded  in  the  darkness  and  routed  witii 
frightful  slaughter.  Don  Alonso  de  Aguilar,  Fran- 
cisco Ramirez  de  Madrid,  chief  of  ordnance  of  the 
Spanish  army,  and  many  other  cavaliers,  were  killed; 
and  the  mountain  slopes  were  strewn  with  the  bodies 
of  soldiers  who  had  been  butchered  as  they  fled.  The 
victory  of  the  Sierra  Bermeja  was  the  only  important 
one  gained  by  the  insurgents  in  the  long  course  of  the 
Morisco  wars.  It  was  productive  of  no  substantial 
advantage;  and  its  only  permanent  effect  was  to  ex- 


MooRisn  Emfike  in  Eubope  251 

asperate  the  Queen,  who,  now  regarding  herself  as 
the  injured  party,  devoted  henceforth  all  her  energy 
to  the  oppression  of  a  heretic  race  whose  existence  she 
considered  a  blemish  upon  her  piety  and  a  scandal  to 
her  dominions. 

The  submission  of  the  Moors,  during  the  gradual 
subjugation  of  the  Peninsula,  had  left  large  numbers 
in  different  conditions  of  life  scattered  through  the 
provinces  of  the  various  kingdoms.  A  few  had  early 
apostatized;  many  were  held  in  a  state  of  servitude; 
but  by  far  the  larger  portion  enjoyed  a  nominal  free- 
dom, and  purchased  immunity  from  molestation  by 
the  payment  of  tribute.  All  who  complied  with  the 
laws  regulating  their  responsibilities  to  the  govern- 
ment were  allowed  the  peaceful  exercise  of  their  re- 
ligious ceremonies.  The  principal  wealth  of  the  Cas- 
tilian  nobility  consisted  in  the  industry  of  these  their 
intelligent  and  laborious  dependents.  On  what  are 
now  known  as  the  dehesas  and  despoblados — "  pas- 
tures" and  "deserts" — of  Castile  and  Estremadura, 
the  Moorish  agricultiu*ists  produced  from  an  ungrate- 
ful soil  the  wheat  which  supplied  the  population  of 
the  entire  Peninsula.  These  invaluable  tributaries  of 
the  Spanish  Crown  had  never  evinced  the  slightest 
concern  for  the  fate  of  their  fellow-sectaries  contend- 
ing for  liberty  and  religion  on  the  distant  banks  of  the 
Genii.  Not  only  had  they  failed  to  manifest  their 
sympathy,  but  the  extraordinary  contributions  for  the 
prosecution  of  the  war  levied  upon  the  products  of 
their  thrift  largely  contributed  to  the  successful  ter- 
mination of  a  struggle  in  whose  result  they  naturally 
must  have  felt  a  more  than  passing  interest.  Had 
their  feelings  been  sufficiently  ardent  to  have  induced 
active  and  armed  co-operation,  the  difficulties  of  the 
Reconquest  must  have  been  vastly  increased.  As  it 
was,  their  apathetic  and  selfish  conduct  was  far  from 
'securing  them  immunity  from  persecution. 


252  History  of  the 

The  malignant  bigotry  of  the  Queen,  flinging  to 
the  winds  every  sentiment  of  justice,  piety,  and  hu- 
manity, had  now  usurped  over  her  better  nature  an 
imperious  and  undisputed  dominion;  and  on  the 
twelfth  of  February,  1602,  she  published  an  edict  or- 
dering the  banishment  of  all  the  Moors  of  Leon  and 
Castile.  The  extraordinary  lack  of  political  discern- 
ment disclosed  by  such  a  step  affords  painful  evidence 
to  what  dishonorable  and  injurious  expedients  a  mind 
of  more  than  ordinary  capacity  may  be  impelled  by 
the  fury  of  religious  passion.  These  objects  of  her 
animadversion  were,  as  a  class,  her  most  faithful,  obe- 
dient, and  valuable  subjects.  They  had  always  ob- 
served the  laws  with  scrupulous  fidelity.  Those  most 
prejudiced  against  their  blood  and  their  belief  had 
never  imputed  to  them  the  crimes  of  sacrilege,  of  con- 
spiracy, of  treason.  Under  their  patient  and  skilful 
hands,  the  most  unpromising  regions,  heretofore  aban- 
doned by  native  ignorance  and  sloth  as  totally  unpro- 
ductive, now  blossomed  with  imsurpassed  fertility. 
Their  industry  filled  the  granaries  of  the  kingdom; 
there  was  no  other  available  source  of  supply,  and 
with  their  expulsion  a  famine  was  imminent;  in  the 
future,  as  was  subsequently  demonstrated,  there  were 
none  competent  or  willing  to  take  their  place.  The 
slaves  of  her  powerful  vassals,  serfs  who  represented 
infinite  blood  and  treasure  expended  in  the  service  of 
the  crovm,  were  not  originally  exempted  from  the 
force  of  this  sweeping  decree,  and  the  infringement 
of  private  rights  resulting  from  the  arbitrary  confis- 
cation of  this  property,  without  excuse  or  recompense, 
promised  disastrous  political  complications.  These 
considerations  had,  however,  no  weight  in  the  mind  of 
the  obstinate  Isabella.  The  fact  that  in  the  midst 
of  a  Christian  population  an  infidel  community  was 
suffered  to  exist,  especially  after  the  Moslems  of  Gra- 
nada had  declared  their  adherence  to  the  Faith,  was 


Moorish  Emfule  in  Eubofe  258 

repugnant  to  her  intolerant  nature,  and  a  standing 
reproach  to  the  religion  she  professed.  In  support  of 
her  policy,  she  coined  the  atrocious  maxim,  worthy 
of  the  ingenious  casuistry  of  a  Jesuit,  "  It  is  better 
to  prevent  than  to  punish;  and  it  is  right  to  punish 
the  little  for  the  crimes  of  the  great."  The  vicarious 
sufferings  of  the  Castilian  Arabs  were  now  to  atone 
for  the  offences  of  the  rebels  of  Granada,  with  whom 
they  had  nothing  in  common  but  a  similar  origin  and 
an  inherited  creed,  and  in  whose  behalf  they  had 
never  exhibited  the  slightest  indication  of  countenance 
or  sympathy.  The  enforcement  of  this  measure, 
whose  inhuman  provisions  subjected  the  unhappy  ob- 
jects of  its  severity  to  the  treatment  due  outlaws  and 
criminals,  was  only  partially  observed.  At  the  very 
beginning  it  was  seen  that,  if  carried  out  to  the  letter, 
a  considerable  part  of  the  kingdom  would  become  a 
barren  and  uninhabited  solitude.  The  decree  was 
therefore  revoked.  A  compromise,  by  which  the  deli- 
cate scruples  of  the  Queen  were  satisfied,  was  effected, 
— ^baptism  was  substituted  for  exile;  the  scenes  of  in- 
discriminate and  wholesale  aspersion  were  repeated; 
a  large  and  industrious  population  bartered  their  re- 
ligious convictions  for  safety,  and,  by  the  force  of  a 
royal  proclamation,  were  transformed  from  a  self- 
respecting  body  of  colonists  into  a  nation  of  hypo- 
crites. 

With  the  death  of  Isabella,  which  occurred  at  this 
time,  the  Moriscoes  were  relieved  from  the  persecution 
of  a  vindictive  and  persevering  enemy.  The  perma- 
nent elimination  of  her  influence  from  the  politics  of 
the  Peninsula  did  not,  however,  improve  the  condition 
of  the  recent  victims  of  her  fiery  and  unrelenting  zeal. 
The  system  by  which  she  governed;  the  infamous 
maxims  which  guided  her  conduct  in  the  relations  ex- 
isting between  sovereign  and  subject;  the  shameless 
violation  of  treaties ;  the  audacious  usurpations  of  the 


254  History  of  the 

clergy ;  the  prejudices  engendered  by  years  of  oppres- 
sion, were  perpetuated  by  her  successors,  and  adopted 
by  their  ministers  as  an  essential  part  of  the  policy  of 
the  crown.  The  reverence  with  which  her  memory  is 
regarded  is  to  be  attributed,  not  so  much  to  the  great- 
ness of  her  abilities,  eminent  as  they  were,  but  to  their 
misapplication;  not  to  the  military  achievements  of 
her  armies,  but  to  the  sanguinary  revenge  they  in- 
flicted upon  vanquished  enemies;  not  to  the  blessings 
of  a  wise,  a  just,  and  a  stable  government, — ^the  most 
substantial  foundation  upon  which  the  fame  of  a  mon- 
arch can  be  erected, — ^but  to  the  inauguration  of  meas- 
ures which  eventually  purged  the  kingdom  of  mis- 
believers, who  were  the  source  of  its  material  wealth 
and  of  its  commercial  and  agricultural  prosperity.  A 
princess  who  could  deliberately  repudiate  tiie  obliga- 
tions of  national  honor  can  scarcely  be  regarded  in  the 
light  of  a  public  benefactor.  The  patroness  of  the 
Inquisition  has  but  a  slender  claim  to  the  admiration 
of  posterity.  The  popularity  of  Isabella  is  based 
upon  the  fact  that  she  was  the  representative  of  con- 
temporaneous popular  sentiment.  In  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries  no  proceeding  was  so  merito- 
rious as  the  torture  of  heretics.  All  questions  of  po- 
litical expediency  were  rigidly  subordinated  to  the 
claims  of  what  was  universally  regarded  as  a  para- 
mount religious  duty.  The  progressive  decadence  of 
Spanish  power  dates  from  its  very  establishment,  and 
is  directly  traceable  to  the  incessant  intervention  of 
ecclesiastical  authority  in  civil  affairs,  and  to  the  awful 
consequences  resulting  from  the  unlimited  application 
of  the  atrocious  principle  that  national  faith  and  pub- 
lic honor  must  be  always  sacrificed  to  the  interests  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion. 

The  different  aspects  imder  which  the  same  things 
appeared,  during  the  sixteenth  century,  to  people  of 
a  coimnon  nationality,  living  under  the  same  laws  and 


Moorish  Emfib£  in  Europe  255 

professing  the  same  doctrines,  are  remarkable.  Dur- 
ing the  bitter  persecutions  in  Castile,  the  Aragonese 
Moslems  retained  their  privileges  unimpaired.  Not 
only  that,  but  while  the  spirit  of  fanaticism  was 
driving  the  tributaries  of  Isabella  by  thousands  to  sim- 
ulated conversion,  Ferdinand  issued  a  decree  granting 
to  the  Moors  of  Valencia  the  enjoyment  of  their  re- 
ligious and  social  rights  in  perpetuity.  On  the  one 
hand,  therefore,  was  the  most  radical  suppression  of 
individual  thought  and  action;  on  the  other,  a  tolera- 
tion worthy  of  the  most  enlightened  statesmanship, 
and,  it  must  be  added,  little  to  be  anticipated  imder 
the  circumstances.  But  the  sagacity  of  Ferdinand 
never  willingly  countenanced  the  employment  of  force 
in  matters  of  religion.  His  jealousy  of  power  caused 
him  to  resent  the  encroachments  of  the  priesthood; 
and  he  secretly  discouraged  the  oppression  of  a  race 
which  he  recognized  as  controlling  the  material  re- 
sources upon  whose  maintenance  depended  the  preser- 
vation of  his  dignity  and  prestige. 

During  the  twelve  years  that  intervened  between 
the  death  of  Isabella  and  that  of  Ferdinand,  the 
Moors  enjoyed  comparative  peace  and  immunity;  and 
the  advent  of  Charles  V.  brought  at  first  no  unfavor- 
able changes  in  their  political  or  social  conditions. 
That  prince  was  scarcely  seated  upon  the  throne  which 
he  had  inherited,  and  by  whose  acceptance  there  de- 
volved upon  him  responsibilities  of  tiie  greatest  mo- 
ment and  the  government  of  a  people  of  whose  dispo- 
sition and  character  he  was  profoundly  ignorant,  when 
serious  internal  disturbances  began  to  menace  his 
authority.  In  Castile,  the  Comuneros,  a  conspiracy 
of  nobles  and  municipalities,  arose  to  assert  their  an- 
cient privileges,  impaired  by  forejgn  influence;  and, 
at  the  same  time,  the  Valencian  populace  banded 
together  under  the  name  of  Germania,  or  Brother- 
hood^ to  repress  the  growing  insolence  of  the  aristoc- 


256  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

racy.  The  encroachments  of  the  latter  had  long  been 
a  serious  grievance  in  the  kingdom  of  Valencia.  Its 
members,  ever  since  the  Conquest,  had  maintained  an 
insulting  deportment  with  their  inferiors,  which  had 
exasperated  the  latter  beyond  all  endurance.  They 
borrowed  money  of  wealthy  merchants  and  repaid 
them  with  curses  and  ridicule.  The  establishment  of  a 
regency  had  weakened  the  administration  of  the  laws; 
the  nobles  were  not  slow  to  observe  the  advantages 
which  a  virtual  interregnum  afforded  the  development 
of  private  ambition;  and,  in  the  assertion  of  obsolete 
feudal  privileges,  every  wrong  which  avarice  or  hatred 
could  suggest  was  inflicted  upon  the  citizens  of  a  rich 
and  defenceless  community.  The  Moors,  who  were 
the  vassals  of  the  Valencian  nobles,  were  not  infre- 
quently the  instruments  of  their  malevolence,  and 
shared  with  their  masters  the  general  obloquy  which 
attached  to  their  conduct.  The  organization  of  the 
Germania  had  an  important  and  disastrous  effect 
upon  the  f ortimes  of  the  former.  Their  lot  was  cast 
with  their  lords,  and  the  predominance  temporarily 
acquired  by  the  rebels  through  the  incapacity  of  the 
Viceroy  proved  fatal  in  the  end  to  the  liberties  of  the 
vassal.  The  popular  cry  of  infidel  was  raised  by  the 
insurgents,  who  nimibered  many  ecclesiastics  in  their 
ranks,  and  sixteen  thousand  Moslems  submitted  to  the 
infliction  of  compulsory  baptism.  The  Emperor,  who 
seems  to  have  inherited  with  his  dominions  a  taste  for 
persecution,  was  not  satisfied  while  a  single  Moham- 
medan remained  within  the  jiuisdiction  of  the  Spanish 
Crown.  With  great  diflSculty  he  extorted  a  bull  from 
the  Pope  which  absolved  him  from  the  oath  he  had 
taken  to  observe  the  ancient  laws  and  treaties  of  the 
kingdom,  and  expressly  authorizing  the  reduction  to 
slavery  of  every  Mussulman  whose  scruples  or  obsti- 
nacy might  prevent  him  from  renouncing  the  belief  of 
his  fathers.    Secure  of  Papal  sanction,  Charles  now 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  267 

issued  a  proclamation  requiring  the  Moors,  under  mys^ 
terious  but  unspecified  penalties,  to  become  Christians 
within  ten  days.  The  latter,  who  did  not  manifest  the 
submissive  spirit  of  their  brethren,  maintained  a  sullen 
demeanor,  and,  disposing  of  their  personal  effects  for 
whatever  they  could  obtain,  prepared  to  go  into  exile. 
The  publicity  of  their  intention,  however,  defeated  it; 
the  authorities  forbade  the  sale  of  their  property  as 
well  as  their  departure,  and  nothing  remained  for 
them  but  apostasy  or  armed  resistance.  The  former 
alternative  was  embraced  by  far  the  greater  number. 
With  such  a  multitude  individual  aspersion  was  im- 
possible ;  the  water  of  regeneration  was  sprinkled  over 
kneeling  thousands  with  branches  of  hyssop,  and  more 
than  one  unrepentant  infidel,  who  had  submitted  with 
secret  disgust  to  an  obnoxious  ceremony,  was  heard 
to  mutter,  "  Praise  be  to  Allah!  Not  a  drop  defiled 
mer 

The  rural  communities  of  Valencia  regarded  the 
prospect  of  conversion  with  even  more  disfavor  than 
did  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital.  The  ecclesiastical 
commissioners  sent  to  enforce  the  royal  edicts  were 
excluded  from  the  dwellings  of  the  peasantry,  who 
refused  to  hear  their  exhortations.  In  some  localities 
open  violence  was  manifested;  the  Baron  of  Cortes, 
who  had  urged  submission,  was  killed  by  his  retainers, 
and  his  body  left  to  be  devoured  by  swine.  Resistance 
to  royal  autiiority  was  soon  followed  by  organized  re- 
volt, and  the  Sierra  de  Espadan  became  the  seat  of  a 
formidable  insurrection.  Including  the  banditti  who 
habitually  infested  the  mountains,  and  the  African 
freebooters  who  hailed  every  disturbance  as  a  source 
of  plunder  and  profit,  the  army  of  the  rebels  amounted 
to  more  than  four  thousand  well-armed  men.  A 
farmer  named  Selim  Carbaic  was  elected  their  gen- 
eral, whose  natural  abilities  and  the  valor  of  whose 
followers  maintained  for  months  an  unequal  stnig- 

Vou  III.— 17 


258  History  of  the 

gle  with  the  combined  resources  of  the  monarchy. 
Overcome  at  last,  two  thousand  of  the  insurgents  with 
their  leader  perished  in  a  single  battle;  and  a  general 
amnesty  was  declared,  under  the  sole  condition  by 
which  any  Moslem  was  now  permitted  to  retain  life  or 
liberty.  The  Moors  of  Catalonia  and  Aragon  were 
tendered  the  same  alternative.  Without  hesitation 
they  preferred  hypocrisy  to  martyrdom;  and  by  the 
year  1526  there  no  longer  remained  within  the  limits 
of  the  Spanish  Peninsula  a  single  individual  who 
dared  to  openly  acknowledge  his  belief  in  the  creed 
of  Mohammed. 

This  flattering  result  having  been  finally  accom- 
plished, it  was  now  considered  advisable  to  reform  the 
proselytes.  In  nearly  all  localities  where  the  Moris- 
coes  predominated  they  occupied  an  anomalous  posi- 
tion, so  far  as  their  spiritual  welfare  was  concerned, 
for  they  were  practically  living  without  any  religion. 
They  neglected  to  conform  to  the  ordinances  or  to 
observe  the  canons  of  the  Church  whose  pale  tiiey  had 
entered  under  compulsion.  The  evasion  of  their 
duties  was  connived  at  by  the  priests,  who,  so  long  as 
their  parishioners  were  quiet  and  regularly  paid  their 
contributions,  closed  their  eyes  to  all  formal  irregulari- 
ties, and  never  troubled  themselves  with  the  instruc- 
tions which  it  was  their  office  to  impart  This  indul- 
gence was  further  secured  by  donatives  that  exempted 
unwilling  sinners  from  penance,  whose  vexatious  per- 
formance might  always  be  commuted  for  a  pecuniary 
consideration.  In  the  sight  of  the  clergy,  spiritual 
duties  were  thus  entirely  obscured  by  the  more  pal- 
pable advantages  to  be  derived  from  worldly  benefits 
and  the  maintenance  of  their  flocks  in  ignorance, — a 
policy  which  at  the  same  time  confirmed  their  author- 
ity and  increased  their  revenues.  But  the  Moriscoes, 
while  they  shunned  the  mass,  could  not  with  safety 
resort  to  any  other  source  of  religious  consolation. 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  259 

They  were  more  than  suspected  of  practising  the  rites 
of  Islam  in  secret;  but  the  jealousy  with  which  they 
guarded  the  privacy  of  their  domestic  life  prevented 
the  verification  of  this  suspicion.  In  the  eyes  of  de- 
vout Christians,  who  did  not  fail  to  notice  and  repro- 
bate their  shortcomings,  they  were  regarded  as  some- 
thing worse  than  Pagans.  Although  they  possessed 
aD  the  requisites  of  good  citizenship,  and  their  inter- 
course with  their  neighbors  was  marked  by  every  evi- 
dence of  honor  and  probity,  these  qualities  were  ig- 
nored when  their  religious  consistency  was  called  in 
question. 

The  visit  of  Charles  V.  to  Granada  in  1626  was 
made  the  occasion  for  a  strenuous  appeal  for  the  re- 
form of  the  Moriscoes.  Petitions  and  remonstrances 
without  number,  reinforced  with  all  the  arts  of  sacer- 
dotal eloquence,  were  presented  to  the  Emperor, 
urging  that  radical  measures  be  taken  to  correct  an 
evil  which  was  seriously  affecting  the  credit  and  the 
discipline  of  the  Church.  A  coiomission  of  thirteen 
members,  most  of  them  high  ecclesiastical  dignitaries, 
and  presided  over  by  Don  Alonso  Manrique,  Grand 
Inquisitor  of  Spain,  was  therefore  appointed,  and 
began  an  investigation.  There  was  no  difficulty  in 
anticipating  the  decision  of  such  a  tribimal.  That  its 
decrees  might  be  properly  executed,  the  Holy  Office 
was  brought  from  Jaen  and  formally  established  in 
one  of  the  palaces  of  the  dty.  Ten  sessions  sufficed  to 
determine  a  question  in  which  were  involved  matters 
of  the  greatest  consequence  to  the  welfare  of  the  king- 
dom, the  maintenance  of  national  honor,  and  the  jus- 
tice and  integrity  of  the  crown.  Every  accusation 
against  the  Moriscoes  was  received  and  considered,  but 
they  were  not  permitted  to  be  heard  in  their  own  de- 
fence. The  determination  of  the  commission  was  pub- 
lished in  a  royal  edict,  which  prohibited  the  Moriscoes 
the  use  of  their  family  names,  their  dress,  their  Ian- 


260  History  of  the 

guage;  which  compelled  the  exposure  of  the  faces  of 
their  women  to  the  insulting  gaze  of  the  loxmgers  in 
the  streets;  which  required  the  abandonment  of  the 
peculiar  ceremonies  employed  in  the  slaughter  of  ani- 
mals for  food;  which  sanctioned  by  domiciliary  visits 
invasion  of  the  privacy  of  their  homes;  and  forbade 
them  to  ever  lose  sight  of  the  Inquisitorial  palace, 
whose  officials  were  directed  to  henceforth  exercise 
careful  supervision  over  their  conduct,  and  to  pimish 
with  their  customary  rigor  all  infractions  of  religious 
discipline. 

The  terror  experienced  by  the  victims  of  this  atro- 
cious decree,  which  not  only  violated  the  conditions 
upon  which  Spanish  supremacy  depended,  but  delib- 
erately sacrificed  every  consideration  of  justice  for 
which  national  honor  had  solenmly  pledged  its  faith, 
can  hardly  be  imagined.  But  the  Moriscoes,  whose 
experience  with  their  spiritual  advisers  had  taught 
them  the  efficacy  of  certain  methods  in  averting  im- 
pending evil,  had  recourse  to  an  expedient  which,  on 
a  smaller  scale,  had  repeatedly  proved  successful.  It 
was  no  secret  that  the  royal  treasury  was  empty;  and 
it  was  suspected  that  the  depressed  condition  of  the 
national  finances  was  largely  responsible  for  the  prose- 
lyting zeal  so  unexpectedly  exerted  against  a  peace- 
able and  inoffensive  class.  In  consideration  of  a 
"  gift"  of  eight  thousand  ducats,  the  execution  of  the 
obnoxious  decree  was  suspended,  during  the  pleasure 
of  the  Emperor,  as  soon  as  it  had  been  signed;  but 
this  indulgence,  it  was  expressly  declared,  did  not 
aflTect  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Holy  Office.  The  para- 
sites who  surrounded  the  throne  demanded  and  re- 
ceived an  equal  amoimt  for  an  influence  they  claimed 
to  possess,  but  which  was  probably  never  exerted. 
Thus  a  monarch,  who  posed  as  the  secular  representa- 
tive of  Roman  Catholicism,  consented  to  sacrifice  the 
religious  interests  of  a  large  body  of  his  subjects  and 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubope  261 

to  compromise  the  imperial  dignity  for  a  smn  equiva- 
lent at  the  present  day  to  nine  hmidred  thousand  dol- 
lars in  gold.  No  event  in  Spanish  history  discloses 
more  clearly  than  this  the  true  motives  which  insti- 
gated the  prosecution  of  heresy,  or  the  extraordinary 
wealth  of  those  who  were  the  objects  of  official  cupid- 
ity and  public  malevolence. 

The  Moors  of  Granada,  who  had  heretofore  been 
almost  exempt  from  the  exactions  of  inquisitorial 
tyranny,  now  experienced  for  the  first  time  the  dire 
powers  of  the  Holy  Office.  One  of  the  first  acts  of 
Isabella,  after  the  Conquest,  was  the  foundation  of 
innumerable  monasteries.  The  favorite  sites  of  these 
establishments  were  the  suburban  palaces  of  the  Mos- 
lem princes,  it  being  considered  a  peculiarly  merito- 
rious achievement  to  erect  on  the  ruins  of  a  splendid 
villa,  devoted  to  the  pleasures  of  a  votary  of  Islam, 
an  abode  for  holy  men,  who,  by  a  pious  fiction,  were 
supposed  to  employ  their  abundant  leisure  in  praying 
for  the  salvation  of  heretics.  In  building  these  struct- 
ures the  baths  were  first  demolished,  on  account  of  the 
scandal  the  sight  of  apartments  devoted  to  ablution 
and  luxury  caused  every  good  Christian,  as  well  as  for 
the  reason  that  their  use  was  always  considered  en- 
tirely superfluous  in  a  monastic  institution.  As  a  re- 
sult of  the  partiality  exhibited  by  successive  princes 
towards  the  monachal  orders,  the  city  swarmed  with 
friars  of  every  description.  Their  prejudices  made 
them  the  bitter  enemies  of  the  Moriscoes,  while  their 
numbers  and  audacity  rendered  them  both  influential 
and  formidable.  The  fact  that  the  inferior  officials 
of  the  Inquisition  were  principally  recruited  from 
their  ranks  augmented  the  terror  which  their  insolence 
and  rapacity  inspired,  and  no  familiar  who  wore  the 
Dominican  or  Franciscan  garb  was  ever  known  to  in- 
cline to  the  side  of  mercy.  To  such  hands  was  now 
committed  the  fate  of  the  Moors  of  Granada.    The 


262  History  of  the 

compact  with  the  Emperor,  by  which  they  had  been 
confirmed  for  the  time  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  cus- 
toms, was  broken.  Their  property  was  confiscated. 
They  were  subjected  to  the  diabolical  tortures  adopted 
by  tiie  direst  of  tribunals  for  the  production  of  tes- 
timony and  the  confession  of  guilt.  In  the  famous 
Plaza  de  la  Bab-al-Rambla,  the  scene  of  many 
knightly  encounters  and  of  the  destruction  of  Moslem 
learning  by  Ximenes,  the  condemned  underwent  the 
final  penance,  the  sacrifice  of  the  auto-da-f6.  The 
annoying  restraints  imposed  upon  them  by  priestly 
intolerance  were  the  least  oppressive  of  the  many  evils 
the  Moriscoes  were  condemned  to  endure.  In  the  fre- 
quent controversies  which  arose  concerning  the  inter- 
pretation of  imperial  edicts  and  canonical  decrees,  the 
authority  of  the  latter  always  prevailed.  Every  offi- 
cial, civil,  religious,  or  military,  asserted  the  privilege 
of  magistracy,  and  claimed  the  right  to  compound  an 
offence  or  to  impose  a  penalty.  In  the  art  of  extort- 
ing money,  as  in  the  direction  of  all  matters  pertaining 
to  civil  and  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  the  servants  of 
the  Chiwch  displayed  an  extraordinary  aptitude.  The 
regular  taxes  imposed  upon  the  Moriscoes,  a  grievous 
biu'den  in  themselves,  were  augmented  a  himdred-f  old 
by  impositions  unauthorized  by  law,  and  which  had  no 
other  foundation  than  the  demands  of  official  rapac- 
ity. The  sums  obtained  from  these  enforced  contri- 
butions were  enormous.  An  idea  may  be  formed  of 
the  probable  amount  they  yielded  when  it  is  remem- 
bered that  the  legitimate  tax  paid  annually  by  the  silk 
markets  of  Almeria,  Malaga,  and  Granada  added 
more  than  a  million  dollars  to  the  royal  treasury.  The 
irregular  means  employed  were  far  more  profitable  in 
their  results  than  those  countenanced  by  legal  author- 
ity; and  there  were  few  demands,  however  iniquitous, 
which  a  Morisco  dared  refuse  when  confronted  with 
the  menacing  power  of  the  Inquisition. 


Moorish  Empibs  in  EubopIs  26d 

In  Valencia  also  the  Holy  OflSce,  supported  by 
Papal  sanction  and  imperial  duplicity,  found  a  ridi 
and  most  fruitful  field  for  its  nefarious  operations. 
It  was  in  this  kingdom,  so  remarkable  for  its  natural 
advantages  and  the  industry  of  its  people,  that  the 
Spanish  proverb,  "  Quien  tiene  Moro,  tiene  oro,"  had 
its  origin.  The  relation  of  vassalage  which  the  Moors 
of  that  kingdom  in  general  sustained  to  the  nobility 
was  far  from  suflBcient  to  protect  them  against  the 
effects  of  secular  and  ecclesiastical  prejudice.  The 
unquestioned  orthodoxy  of  the  lord,  his  generosity  to 
the  Church,  the  antiquity  of  his  family,  the  prestige 
of  his  name,  his  services  to  the  crown,  were  swept  aside 
when  the  question  of  disciplining  his  retainers  was  in- 
volved. The  slightest  suspicion  attaching  to  a  Mos- 
lem was  enough  to  invite  the  descent  of  a  horde  of 
familiars  and  alguazils,  who  never  failed  to  discover 
evidences  of  irregularity  sufficient  to  render  their 
examination  profitable.  The  visitations  of  these 
functionaries  were  doubly  offensive  by  reason  of 
the  unfeeling  and  insolent  manner  in  which  they 
were  conducted.  They  left  no  comer  of  a  dwelling 
unsearched;  they  destroyed  property,  insulted  women, 
and  without  color  of  right  or  pretence  of  conceal- 
ment appropriated  such  jewels  and  trinkets  as  struck 
their  fancy.  Spies  of  the  Holy  Office  swarmed  in  the 
Moorish  quarter,  ever  alert  for  signs  of  heresy.  For 
these  outrages  there  was  no  possibility  of  redress,  and 
the  trembling  victim  gladly  purchased,  by  the  confisca- 
tion of  his  effects,  temporary  security  from  greater 
misfortunes,  which,  if  his  worldly  possessions  were 
sufficient  to  warrant  further  interference,  he  was  cer- 
tain sooner  or  later  to  undergo.  The  intolerable 
nature  of  these  persecutions  impelled  thousands  of 
Moriscoes  to  seek  by  flight  the  only  available  relief 
from  oppression.  The  Holy  Fathers  of  the  Inqui- 
sition  were   horrified   by   the   retaliatory   measures 


264  History  of  the 

adopted  by  the  friends  of  those  who,  for  the  welfare 
of  their  souls,  were  subjected  to  the  salutary  restraints 
of  ecclesiastical  discipline.  Every  time  that  the 
Moors  condemned  by  that  tribunal  expiated  their 
heresies  in  an  auto-da-fe,  information  was  promptly 
sent  to  Barbary,  and  an  equal  number  of  Christian 
captives  perished  by  fire. 

The  African  corsairs,  under  the  command  of  the 
relentless  Barbarossa,  at  that  time  held  the  empire 
of  the  Mediterranean,  and  by  their  aid  multitudes 
of  Moriscoes  succeeded  in  escaping  to  Morocco.  In 
vain  the  nobles  protested  against  a  policy  which  de- 
preciated the  value  of  their  estates,  depopulated  their 
villages,  and  daily  deprived  them  of  laborers  whose 
services  could  not  be  dispensed  with  and  whose  loss 
could  not  be  replaced;  both  royal  power  and  popular 
sentiment  sanctioned  the  course  of  the  Church,  and 
the  material  prosperity  of  a  single  province  was  not 
worthy  of  consideration  when  weighed  with  the  per- 
ishing souls  of  thousands  of  suspected  heretics.  Pecu- 
niary arguments  were  then  employed,  and  after  sev- 
eral years  of  negotiation  the  operations  of  the  Holy 
Office  were  suspended  upon  the  payment  of  a  yearly 
donative  of  twenty-five  hundred  ducats.  Once  more 
free  from  the  perils  of  Inquisitorial  visitation  and 
punishment,  the  Moriscoes  at  once  relapsed  into  their 
former  religious  indifference;  the  clergy  viewed  with 
unconcern  the  unmistakable  evidences  of  apostasy 
among  their  parishioners;  the  nobles  welcomed  with 
undisguised  satisfaction  the  relief  of  their  vassals,  the 
increase  of  their  revenues,  and  the  indications  of  re- 
timiing  prosperity;  while  the  inquisitors,  whose  treas- 
ury had  been  filled  to  overflowing  with  the  gold  wrung 
by  fines  and  confiscations  from  the  wealthiest  subjects 
of  the  kingdom,  sought  in  other  quarters  new  mate- 
rial for  the  stake  and  the  dungeon,  to  be  condemned 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  265 

to  present  torture  and  eternal  infamy  in  the  name  of 
anAU-MercifulGod. 

The  abdication  of  Charles  V.  brought  a  grateful 
respite  to  the  harassed  and  suffering  Moors,  The 
mighty  interests  of  an  empire  which  extended  over 
two  worlds  engrossed  the  attention  of  Philip  II.,  and 
he  had,  at  first,  no  time  to  devote  to  the  persecution  of 
a  handful  of  alleged  heretics  lost  in  a  comer  of  his 
vast  dominions.  The  Roman  Pontiff,  who,  perhaps 
influenced  by  motives  of  humanity,  but  certainly  not 
absolutely  free  from  political  bias  or  resentment  for 
the  outrage  inflicted  by  the  Emperor  upon  the  Holy 
See,  had  always  discountenanced  his  oppression  of 
the  Moriscoes,  now  heartily  co-operated  with  Philip 
in  alleviating  the  misery  of  their  condition.  A  brief 
issued  from  the  Vatican  in  1556  empowered  confess- 
ors to  absolve  from  the  offence  of  heresy  without  pen- 
ance, and  deprived  the  Inquisition  of  the  greater  part 
of  its  jurisdiction  and  autiiority.  The  nature  of  the 
young  King  had  not  yet  been  corrupted  by  absolute 
power;  nor  were  his  actions  now  controlled  by  that 
morose  and  pitiless  spirit  subsequently  developed  by 
remorse,  disease,  and  bigotry,  which,  added  to  the 
hereditary  taint  of  insanity  which  afilicted  his  family, 
rendered  him,  during  the  greater  portion  of  his  life, 
one  of  the  most  unfeeling  monsters  that  has  ever  dis- 
graced a  throne. 

The  beneficial  effects  of  leniency  upon  the  Moris- 
coes, as  contrasted  with  the  employment  of  violent 
measures,  were  soon  disclosed.  They  conformed,  with 
seeming  alacrity,  to  the  often  vexatious  regulations 
imposed  upon  their  conduct.  They  wore  the  Spanish 
costume;  they  adopted,  in  all  public  transactions  at 
least,  the  use  of  the  Castilian  language.  Colleges 
were  founded  for  their  instruction  by  devout  and  en- 
terprising prelates.  Their  children,  male  and  female, 
were  educated  in  the  schools,  and  assumed  the  eccle- 


266  History  of  the 

siastical  habit  of  the  various  monastic  orders  within 
whose  jurisdiction  they  were  enrolled.  From  Morisco 
seminaries  missionaries  went  forth  to  instruct  and  rec- 
oncile their  doubting  countrymen.  In  imitation  of 
their  patrons,  they  founded  and  supported  religious 
brotherhoods.  Their  professions  were  apparently  sin- 
cere; they  began  to  perform  their  duties  with  scrupu- 
lous regularity;  and  it  seemed  as  if  at  last  the  hitiberto 
delusive  hope  of  Moslem  conversion  was  about  to  be 
realized.  But  the  spirit  of  ferocious  intolerance,  ever 
predominant  in  the  Spanish  character,  and  which  in 
the  sixteenth  century  amounted  to  a  frenzy,  regarded 
with  anything  but  complacency  the  indulgent  con- 
sideration extended  towards  the  unhappy  objects  of 
hereditary  aversion.  With  this  sentiment  generally 
prevalent,  fresh  pretexts  for  encroachment  were  easily 
invented.  In  1560  the  assistance  of  the  government 
was  invoked  by  the  Christians  of  Granada  to  restrain 
the  purchase  of  slaves  by  the  Moriscoes,  who,  it  was 
stated,  were  in  the  habit  of  instructing  their  servants 
secretly  in  the  doctrines  of  Islam  and  thereby  multi- 
plying the  number  of  its  adherents,  to  the  scandal  of 
the  Church  and  the  prejudice  of  the  royal  authority. 
No  attempt  was  made  to  ascertain  the  truth  or  falsity 
of  this  accusation,  and  the  Moriscoes  were  deprived, 
by  royal  decree,  of  the  right  of  possessing  slaves,  a 
measure  seriously  affecting  tiie  rural  and  domestic 
economy  of  the  entire  population  of  Granada,  which 
was  dependent  upon  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  by  a 
multitude  of  negroes  held  by  the  Moorish  farmers  in 
servitude. 

In  addition  to  this  virtual  confiscation  of  property 
for  no  valid  cause  and  without  indemnity,  the  Moors 
were  compelled  to  produce  the  arms  whose  posses- 
sion had  already  been  licensed,  in  order  to  have  them 
stamped  by  the  government,  and  thus  contribute  still 
further  to  the  gratification  of  official  greed.     The 


MooBiSH  Empib£  in  Eueope  267 

penalty  incurred  for  the  possession  of  a  weapon  with- 
out permission  was  six  years  in  the  galleys;  that  for 
counterfeiting  the  royal  stamp  was  death.  The  en- 
forcement of  these  regulations,  the  first  of  which 
threatened  to  paralyze  agricultural  labor,  the  princi- 
pal occupation  of  the  Moriscoes  and  the  main  depend- 
ence of  the  revenues  of  the  crown,  exasperated  beyond 
endiu*ance  those  affected  by  their  enactment.  The 
loss  of  their  slaves  impoverished  many.  Some  surren- 
dered their  arms  and  procured  others  clandestinely. 
Others  enlisted  in  the  organized  bands  of  outlaws  who, 
under  the  name  of  monfis,  roamed  through  the  sierras 
and  levied  at  will  contributions  upon  the  wealthy 
Spaniards  of  the  Vega.  Many  of  these  brigands, 
through  the  connivance  of  their  sympathizers,  entered 
the  capital  by  night  in  force,  bore  away  the  wives  and 
children  of  their  enemies,  and  left  in  the  squares  and 
highways  the  mutilated  corpse  of  every  Christian  they 
encountered.  The  numbers  of  the  monfis  increased 
with  alarming  rapidity.  Their  incursions  began  to 
resemble  the  operations  of  an  organized  army;  prep- 
arations for  an  insurrection  were  secretly  instituted, 
and  the  assistance  of  the  rulers  of  Fez,  Algiers,  and 
Constantinople  was  earnestly  solicited  in  behalf  of 
those  who  represented  themselves  as  persecuted  Mo- 
hanmaedans,  abandoned  without  any  other  resoiu'ce  to 
the  tyranny  of  Christian  avarice  and  power. 

Untaught  by  experience  and  regardless  of  conse- 
quences, the  ofiicials  of  the  various  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical tribunals  piu-sued  their  extortionate  policy 
without  pity  or  restraint.  The  competition  existing 
between  them,  and  the  adverse  claims  involving  con- 
tested jurisdiction  and  disputed  plunder  which  con- 
stantly arose,  often  caused  serious  conflicts  of  author- 
ity, from  which  the  representatives  of  the  Church  and 
the  Inquisition  generally  emerged  victorious.  These 
quarrels  between  these  two  classes  of  oppressors  em- 


268  History  of  the 

bittered  them  both  against  their  common  victims,  and 
dissension  increased  instead  of  alleviating  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  latter-  To  make  their  situation  even  more 
desperate,  the  decree  of  Charles  V.,  promulgated  in 
1526,  was  now  put  in  force  by  the  King.  The  Moris- 
coes,  unable  longer  to  sustain  the  grievous  exactions 
which  they  well  imderstood  were  but  preliminaries  to 
the  expulsion  of  their  race,  now  rapidly  matured  their 
plans  of  rebellion.  In  the  accomplishment  of  this 
they  displayed  extraordinary  tact  and  shrewdness.  A 
considerable  estate  had  been  granted  to  them  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Granada  for  the  erection  of  a  hos- 
pital. Under  pretence  of  soliciting  funds  for  its  com- 
pletion, trusty  emissaries  of  revolt  were  despatched  to 
every  Moorish  conununity  of  the  kingdom.  The  col- 
lectors employed  in  this  dangerous  service  visited  in 
their  joiuney  one  himdred  and  ten  thousand  families. 
The  incorruptible  faith  of  the  Moors  and  their  loy- 
alty to  their  race  were  unprecedented ;  for  among  the 
multitudes  intrusted  with  a  secret  for  which  a  traitor 
would  have  received  a  fortune  not  a  single  individual 
abused  the  confidence  of  his  countrymen.  The  entire 
sum  obtained  by  this  means  is  not  known;  it  must, 
however,  have  been  amply  sufficient,  for  the  contribu- 
tions of  those  who  were  fit  for  military  service  alone 
amounted  to  forty-five  thousand  pieces  of  gold. 

Messengers  were  next  despatched  to  Africa  to  pur- 
chase arms.  Secret  and  well-organized  communica- 
tion was  perfected.  The  election  of  a  leader  now 
became  imperative.  In  the  old  Moorish  capital  there 
lived  a  young  man  of  amiable  disposition  and  excel- 
lent mental  capacity,  but  of  prodigal  and  licentious 
habits,  named  Don  Fernando  de  Valor,  in  whose  veins 
coursed  the  blood  of  the  famous  Ommeyade  dynasty 
of  Cordova.  A  prince  by  birth,  and  enjoying  the 
greatest  popularity  as  a  citizen,  his  prominence  in  the 
community  had  secured  for  him  a  place  among  the 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  269 

councillors  who,  under  the  constitution  granted  by  the 
crown,  assisted  in  the  nominal  government  of  the  city. 
Although  his  dissolute  manners  and  frivolous  associa- 
tions exempted  him  from  the  suspicion  of  the  authori- 
ties, and  his  public  observance  of  religious  ceremonies 
stamped  him  as  an  orthodox  believer,  he  had  not  for- 
gotten the  glorious  traditions  of  his  royal  line,  and  in 
spite  of  his  apparent  sloth  was  active,  brave,  aspiring, 
and  unscrupulous.  In  the  house  of  a  wealthy  resident 
of  the  Albaydn,  and  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  in- 
quisitorial palace,  the  chiefs  of  the  conspiracy  con- 
ferred upon  this  youth  the  perilous  honor  of  leading 
a  hopeless  insurrection.  With  all  the  ceremonial  of 
the  ancient  khalif ate,  he  was  invested  with  the  royal 
insignia;  his  new  subjects  rendered  him  obeisance;  he 
named  the  dignitaries  of  his  court,  and  the  assemblage 
invoked  the  blessing  of  heaven  upon  the  Servant  of 
Allah  and  the  Representative  of  the  Prophet,  Muley 
Mohammed-Ibn-Ommeyah,  King  of  Granada  and 
Andalusia!  The  performance  of  this  farcical  cere- 
mony neither  inspired  confidence  nor  awakened  enthu- 
siasm among  the  Moriscoes  of  the  city.  The  character 
of  the  personage  selected  to  re-establish  the  glories  of 
Moslem  dominion  was  too  well  known  in  Granada  to 
arouse  any  other  sentiments  than  those  of  ridicule  and 
contempt.  Intolerable  as  their  condition  was,  the 
wealthy  Moors  hesitated  to  hazard  their  lives  and 
property  in  support  of  a  cause  in  whose  success  they 
had  little  faith;  and  the  populace,  while  ever  prone  to 
riot,  waited  patiently  for  the  signal  from  their  supe- 
riors. For  this  reason,  although  several  uprisings 
were  projected,  and  even  the  hours  of  their  accom- 
plishment appointed,  popular  indecision  and  apathy 
rendered  all  designs  abortive. 

In  the  Alpujaxras,  where  everything  was  already 
upon  a  hostile  footing,  the  case  was  different,  and 
the  wild  mountaineers  hailed  with  enthusiasm  the  ad- 


270  History  of  the 

vent  of  a  sovereign  and  the  welcome  prospect  of  war 
and  depredation.  The  tempest  of  rehellion  bm^t 
forth  at  once  in  every  settlement  of.  the  sierras.  The 
excesses  committed  by  the  insurgents  are  incredible  in 
their  atrocity  and  worthy  of  a  race  of  savages.  Their 
animosity  was  especially  directed  against  the  priests, 
whom  they  considered  as  the  instigators  and  the  in- 
strmnents  of  their  misfortmies.  Some  had  their 
mouths  stuffed  with  gunpowder  and  their  heads  blown 
to  atoms.  Others  were  compelled  to  sit  before  the 
altar  while  their  former  parishioners  tore  out  the  hairs 
of  their  heads  and  eyebrows  one  by  one  and  then 
slashed  them  to  death  with  knives  and  razors.  Others, 
still,  were  subjected  to  ingenious  tortures  and  barbar- 
ous mutilation;  compelled  to  swallow  their  own  eyes, 
which  had  been  torn  from  the  sockets ;  to  be  gradually 
dismembered ;  to  have  their  tongues  and  hearts  cut  out 
and  thrown  to  dogs.  Hundreds  of  monks  were 
seethed  in  boiling  oil.  Nuns  were  subjected  to  shock- 
ing indignities  and  then  tortured  to  death.  The 
glaring  hypocrisy  in  which  the  Moriscoes  had  been 
living  was  disclosed  by  their  conduct  as  soon  as  they 
believed  themselves  emancipated  from  the  restraints 
under  which  they  had  chafed  so  long.  They  exulted 
in  every  form  of  sacrilege.  Dressed  in  sacerdotal 
habiliments,  they  travestied  the  solemn  ceremonies  of 
the  mass.  They  defiled  and  trampled  upon  the  Host. 
The  churches  were  filled  with  laughing,  jeering 
crowds  that  polluted  every  portion  of  the  sanctuary. 
Sacred  images,  donated  by  pious  monarchs  and 
blessed  by  famous  prelates,  were  broken  to  pieces  and 
burnt.  Ecclesiastical  hatred  had,  as  an  indispensable 
sign  of  regeneration,  forced  all  Moslem  converts  to 
eat  pork,  a  kind  of  food  doubly  offensive  from  inher- 
ited prejudice  and  Koranic  prohibition.  In  retalia- 
tion for  this  annoying  requirement,  the  insurgents., 
with  mock  solemnity,  and  invested  with  all  the  para- 


MooBiSH  Empib£  in  Eukope  271 

phemalia  of  Catholic  worship,  sacrificed  hogs  upon 
the  Christian  altars.  Every  form  of  violence,  every 
outrage  which  newly-found  freedom  exasperated  by 
the  memory  of  long-continued  injury  could  devise, 
was  perpetrated  by  the  enraged  Moriscoes.  So  un- 
bridled was  their  fury  that  even  the  conmion  usages 
of  war  were  constantly  violated;  prisoners  taken  in 
battle  were  put  to  death  without  mercy,  and  it  was 
publicly  declared  that  not  a  Christian  should  be  left 
alive  within  the  insurgent  territory.  This  resolution, 
promulgated  without  his  knowledge,  was  discounte- 
nanced by  Ibn-Ommeyah,  and  he  deposed  the  com- 
manders who  had  by  their  arbitrary  conduct  and  im- 
politic cruelty  insulted  the  honor  of  his  crown,  but  not 
until  irreparable  wrong  had  been  conunitted. 

The  news  of  the  insurrection,  the  exaggeration  of 
its  extent,  and  the  horrors  which  followed  in  its  train 
produced  a  general  panic  in  Granada.  All  Christians 
who  could  do  so  took  refuge  in  the  Alhambra.  The 
Moriscoes,  in  vain  protesting  their  innocence,  barri- 
caded themselves  in  their  houses,  and  such  as  impru- 
dently ventured  into  the  streets  perished  at  the  hands 
of  the  infuriated  mob.  The  contest  of  jurisdiction 
which  had  so  long  existed  between  the  dvil  and  mili- 
tary authorities,  each  of  whom  claimed  the  supremacy, 
and  neither  of  whom  was  willing  to  sacrifice  his  pre- 
tensions, even  in  the  face  of  a  cunning  and  dangerous 
enemy,  added  to  the  perplexities  of  the  situation. 
Thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  discord  of  their  mas- 
ters, the  Moriscoes,  already  elated  by  the  exploits  of 
their  countrymen,  of  which  they  had  early  and  accu- 
rate intelligence,  began  to  manifest  a  suspicious  ac- 
tivity. The  prospect  of  war  called  to  arms  the  turbu- 
lent and  dissolute  spirits  of  the  kingdom.  The  feudal 
laws,  which  were  still  in  force  in  the  Peninsula,  pre- 
vented, through  the  disputes  of  the  nobles  for  prece- 
dence, that  submission  to  authority  requisite  for  sue- 


272  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

cessf  111  operations.  With  these  independent  bands 
there  was  no  question  of  patriotism;  the  national 
standard  was  merely  a  rallying  point  for  pillage,  and 
that  commander  was  the  most  popular  whose  neglect 
of  discipline  afforded  the  greatest  opportunities  for 
unbounded  license.  These  troops  were  commanded 
by  the  Marquis  de  Monde  jar,  Gk)vemor  of  Granada, 
and  the  Marquis  de  los  Velez,  both  of  whom  were  in- 
debted rather  to  their  names  than  to  their  qualifica- 
tions for  the  prominence  they  enjoyed,  for  the  one 
was  without  discretion  and  the  other  without  expe- 
rience. 

In  the  campaign  that  ensued  every  consideration  of 
military  virtue,  of  pity,  of  himianity,  was  cast  aside. 
The  Christians  fought  with  an  energy  dictated  by 
fanaticism  and  rapacity,  the  Moors  with  all  tiie  reck- 
less courage  of  despair.  The  Castilian  officers,  so  far 
from  restraining  the  excesses  of  the  soldiery,  encour- 
aged them  in  order  to  increase  their  ferocity  and  ren- 
der reconcihation  impossible  till  all  the  available  booty 
could  be  secured.  The  Moors  of  Granada  paid  dearly 
for  the  apathy  with  which  they  had  received  the  over- 
tures of  their  more  daring  countrymen.  The  lawless 
rabble  of  the  Spanish  camp,  whidb  recognized  no  re- 
straint but  that  of  superior  force,  was  quartered  upon 
the  wealthy  citizens  of  the  Albaycin.  It  is  notorious 
that  even  the  plain-spoken  old  chroniclers  of  the  time 
blushed  to  record  the  outrages  inflicted  by  these  sav- 
age volunteers,  callous  to  every  appeal  of  decency  or 
honor.  An  extraordinary  tax  of  six  thousand  ducats 
was  imposed  upon  the  Albaycin  for  the  purpose  of 
provisioning  the  army;  and  the  Moorish  farmers  of 
the  Vega  were  compelled  under  heavy  penalties  to 
furnish  every  day  twenty  thousand  pounds  of  bread 
at  a  price  arbitrarily  fixed  by  the  authorities.  Thus 
the  unhappy  Moriscoes  of  the  capital,  too  timorous  to 
second  an  attempt  to  regain  their  independ^ice»  were 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  278 

forced  to  contribute  to  the  discomfiture  of  their 
friends,  to  undergo  unspeakable  insults  and  frightful 
suffering,  and  in  the  end  to  sacrifice  their  property 
and  in  many  instances  their  lives  as  the  result  of  their 
distrust  of  a  cause  which  lack  of  intelligent  co-opera- 
tion rendered  hopeless  from  the  very  beginning.  The 
axrtivity  of  the  Spanish  generals,  and  the  superiority 
in  numbers  of  their  troops,  soon  gained  for  them  the 
advantage.  The  campaign  resolved  itself  into  a  suc- 
cession of  skirmishes  and  marauding  expeditions, 
whose  monotony  was  occasionally  relieved  by  promis- 
cuous butchery.  In  consequence  of  a  disturbance  pro- 
voked by  the  insolent  conduct  of  a  Spanish  soldier, 
thirteen  hundred  prisoners,  of  whom  a  thousand  were 
women,  were  massacred  at  the  Castle  of  Jubiles.  The 
plans  of  the  royal  commanders  were  hampered  by  the 
insubordination  of  the  soldiery;  their  insatiable  greed 
placed  the  army  in  desperate  situations,  whence  by 
good  fortune  alone  it  could  be  extricated,  and  the  fre- 
quency of  desertion  seriously  threatened  the  eflSciency 
of  a  force  unrestrained  either  by  self-respect  or  mili- 
tary  law.  Driven  from  point  to  point,  tiTe  army  of 
Ibn-Ommeyah  was  finally  beaten  and  dispersed.  The 
Alpujarras  were  occupied  by  lines  of  fortified  posts, 
which  prevented  the  assembling  of  any  considerable 
body  of  insurgents;  the  mountaineers  of  the  adjacent 
sierras  were  gradually  reduced  to  submission,  and  the 
insurrection  was  at  last  only  represented  by  the  fugi- 
tive prince  and  a  handful  of  followers,  whose  fidelity 
was  sorely  tried  by  the  tempting  reward  offered  for 
the  head  of  their  sovereign. 

The  Moriscoes,  terrified  by  the  misfortunes  which 
they  had  undergone,  offered,  for  the  sake  of  present 
security,  to  submit  to  any  conditions  that  might  be 
imposed, — ^to  deportation,  to  exile,  to  confiscation,  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  troops  that  might  be  detailed 
as  their  guards  against  future  hostility.     Different 

Vol.  III.— 18 


274  HlSTOEY  OF  THE 

and  irreconcilable  opinions  prevailed  among  the  offi- 
cials of  the  crown  as  to  the  policy  to  be  adopted;  one 
party  advocated  amnesty,  another  extermination.  In 
the  mean  time,  while  their  superiors  were  wrangling, 
the  soldiers  pursued  without  interruption  the  agreeable 
diversion  of  rapine.  Although  hostilities  had  ceased, 
small  bands  of  military  brigands  roamed  everywhere 
without  control,  robbing  houses,  destrojring  property, 
ravishing  women.  Inoffensive  peasants,  who  had 
never  borne  arms,  were  seized,  carried  to  Granada, 
and  publicly  sold  as  slaves  in  the  markets  of  the 
city  by  these  outlaws,  with  the  knowledge  and  con- 
nivance of  the  authorities.  The  latter  quarrelled  over 
the  division  of  the  spoil  and  the  questionable  distinc- 
tion acquired  by  conflagration  and  massacre.  No 
faith  was  kept  with  the  vanquished.  Safe-conducts 
signed  by  the  highest  officials  were  not  respected.  No 
Morisco  was  exempt  from  molestation  and  violence; 
no  house  was  secure  from  the  intrusion  of  prowling 
and  bloodthirsty  ruffians.  When  a  body  of  Christian 
troops  passed  through  a  Moorish  community  every- 
thing portable  departed  with  it,  the  rest  was  burned- 
There  was  deliberate  method  in  this  wholesale  destruc- 
tion of  property.  The  army  desired  nothing  so  little 
as  peace.  War  had  been  profitable  even  beyond  ex- 
pectation. The  booty  already  secured  was  immense, 
but  the  greater  portion  had  as  yet  escaped  the  avarice 
of  the  conqueror.  The  general  and  the  common  sol- 
dier alike  cast  longing  glances  upon  the  wealth  of  the 
Albaycin;  upon  the  productive  estates  of  the  Vega, 
still  cultivated  by  Moorish  industry;  upon  the  untold 
wealth  in  gold  and  jewels  known  to  be  hoarded  by 
the  residents  of  Guadix,  Baza,  and  Almeria.  Leaving 
all  else  out  of  consideration,  the  Moriscoes  themselves, 
who  numbered  more  than  half  a  million,  if  condemned 
to  slavery,  would  realize  a  prodigious  simi.  These 
were  the  sinister  motives  which  urged  an  indefinite 


MooBiSH  Emfibe  m  Europe  275 

prosecution  of  the  war,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the 
desired  object  was  attained.  The  Moriscoes,  driven 
to  despair  by  the  duplicity  of  their  enemies  whose 
violence  they  could  not  resist,  again  fled  to  the  moun- 
tains and  sought  the  standard  of  Ibn-Ommeyah.  The 
Spanish  mob  of  Granada,  excited  by  rumors  of  con- 
spiracy, at  once  massacred  the  defenceless  Moorish 
occupants  of  the  prisons  to  the  number  of  several  hun- 
dred. Their  personal  effects  were  appropriated  by  the 
governor;  their  lands  were  confiscated  for  the  benefit 
of  the  crown;  and  their  widows  and  orphans  were 
reduced  to  beggary.  A  judgment  of  the  court  subse- 
quently obtained  confirmed  this  arbitrary  act,  stating 
that  its  decision  was  based  upon  the  fact  that,  "  while 
some  of  the  prisoners  were  actually  guilty,  all  were 
guilty  in  intention."  The  affair  was  regarded  as  a 
suggestive  warning,  and  in  the  future  the  insurgents 
did  not  receive  or  expect  assistance  from  their  friends 
in  Granada. 

Once  more  the  flames  of  war  were  kindled  in  the 
sierras,  and  the  scenes  of  indiscriminate  butchery  were 
resumed.  The  power  of  Ibn-Ommeyah,  strengthened 
by  thousands  of  desperate  men  fleeing  from  perse- 
cution, by  the  monfis,  by  the  corsairs,  and  by  numbers 
of  savage  adventurers  from  the  northern  coast  of 
Africa,  now  became  more  formidable  than  ever.  That 
power  he  exercised  with  ferocious  severity.  The  dis- 
cipline of  his  troops  was  improved.  Marauding 
parties  of  Christians  from  the  principal  cities  were 
surprised  and  cut  to  pieces.  Prominent  officials  who 
had  ventured  to  advocate  surrender  were  promptly 
executed  for  treason.  The  discouraging  and  hitherto 
hopeless  task  of  enlisting  the  sympathy  and  aid  of 
the  Mohammedan  princes  of  Fez  and  Algiers  was 
resumed,  but  with  no  better  prospect  of  success  than 
before. 

Philip,  fully  informed  of  the  incapacity  and  mu- 


276  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

tual  distrust  of  those  hitherto  charged  with  the  gov- 
ernment of  Granada,  now  determined  to  commit  the 
subjection  of  the  rebels  to  a  general  whose  rank  and 
talents  would  command  the  obedience  and  check  the 
insubordination  of  the  ill-disciplined  bands  composing 
the  bulk  of  the  Spanish  army.  Don  John  of  Austria, 
his  half-brother,  the  natural  son  of  Charles  V.,  a  youth 
whose  opportunities  had  as  yet  given  little  indication 
of  the  inilitary  genius  he  possessed,  but  in  whom  dis- 
cerning eyes  had  already  perceived  the  existence  of 
those  brilliant  qualities  subsequently  displayed  with 
such  lustre  at  Lepanto,  was  assigned  to  the  command. 
The  greatest  enthusiasm  was  aroused  by  this  ap- 
pointment. Nobles  and  peasants  alike,  ambitious  of 
serving  under  a  prince  of  the  blood,  flocked  by  hun- 
dreds to  the  royal  standard.  The  new  commander, 
although  inexperienced,  perfected  his  arrangements 
with  all  the  caution  and  skill  of  a  veteran.  The  army 
was  thoroughly  reorganized.  Disorder  was  checked. 
Outlaws  and  beggars  were  expelled  from  the  camp. 
As  far  as  the  annoying  feudal  regulations  would 
permit,  discipline  was  enforced.  Licensed  brig- 
andage, which  had  done  so  much  to  destroy  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  troops,  was  pimished  with  impartial 
rigor.  Under  these  improved  conditions  the  army, 
which  had  hitherto  resembled  a  disorderly  mob,  now 
assumed  the  appearance  of  a  compact  and  formidable 
force.  Meanwhile,  the  insurgents  had  not  been  idle. 
Instructed  by  experience  and  adversity,  Ibn-Onune- 
yah  introduced  many  necessary  reforms  into  his  civil 
and  military  administration;  purchased  arms  in 
Africa;  invited  the  presence  of  corsairs;  procured 
supplies;  and,  dividing  his  territory  into  districts 
whose  arrangement  facilitated  mutual  support  and 
defence,  awaited  with  resolution  and  confidence  the 
approach  of  the  enemy.  The  first  operations  of  the 
campaign  were  favorable  to  the  Moriscoes,  whose 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  277 

successes,  while  neither  material  nor  decisive,  never- 
theless resulted  in  substantial  additions  to  their  ranks. 
Although  able  to  bring  several  thousand  men  into  the 
field,  their  want  of  artillery,  ignorance  of  engineer- 
ing science,  and  traditional  dependence  on  partisan 
warfare  made  their  victories  worthless.  The  latter 
were  obtained  in  skirmishes  where  but  a  few  hundreds 
were  engaged,  the  nature  of  the  ground  and  the  op- 
portunities for  siu*prise  giving  unperceived  assailants 
the  advantage. 

Irritated  by  these  reverses,  a  decisive  step,  long  con- 
templated, and  frequently  from  politic  motives  post- 
poned, was  now  resolved  upon  by  the  government. 
The  rumor  of  impending  revolt  was  diligently  circu- 
lated throughout  Granada.  As  no  evidence  was  sub- 
sequently disclosed  to  confirm  this  report,  it  was  prob- 
ably entirely  fictitious,  but  it  accomplished  the  object 
for  which  it  was  promulgated.  A  panic  seized  the 
excitable  populace,  and  a  universal  demand  arose  for 
the  expulsion  of  the  Moriscoes.  The  authorities  were 
quick  to  profit  by  the  commotion  and  the  fears  which 
tiheir  own  perfidy  aroused;  and,  at  a  concerted  signal, 
twenty  thousand  arquebusiers,  with  lighted  fuses,  oc- 
cupied the  approaches  to  the  Albaycin.  The  Mo- 
riscoes, when  ordered  to  assemble  in  their  churches, 
anticipating  a  massacre,  abandoned  themselves  to 
despair.  It  required  all  the  influence  of  the  municipal 
authorities,  and  the  royal  word  of  Don  John  of 
Austria  himself  that  their  lives  woidd  be  spared,  to 
reassure  the  terror-stricken  prisoners.  Crowded  to- 
gether in  the  aisles,  they  passed  an  agonizing  and 
sleepless  night.  The  next  morning  the  males  between 
the  ages  of  ten  and  sixty  years,  with  their  hands  bound 
behind  them,  were  conducted  outside  the  walls,  where 
a  decree  of  perpetual  banishment  was  pronoimced 
against  them  and  their  kindred.  A  few  days  of  grace 
were  accorded  to  these  unfortimates  to  dispose  of,  or 


278  HlSTOEY  OF  THE 

rather  to  sacrifice,  their  personal  property;  and  then, 
divided  into  several  companies,  each  escorted  by  a 
strong  guard,  they  began  their  journey  tovrards  cen- 
tral Andalusia,  Estremadura,  and  Castile,  whither,  for 
purposes  of  security,  it  had  been  decided  to  conduct 
them. 

The  exiles  were  about  eleven  thousand  in  number. 
They  included  the  descendants  of  the  wealthiest  and 
noblest  Moorish  families  of  Granada,  and,  indeed,  of 
the  entire  Peninsula.  Many  of  them  traced  their 
ancestry  back  to  the  princely  families  of  the  khalif ate, 
eminent  alike  for  intellectual  accomplishments  and 
military  renown.  In  their  keeping  were  the  ancient 
traditions  of  their  race;  the  rare  memorials  of  the 
Moslem  conquest  and  domination;  the  remnants  of 
Arabic  literature  which  had  escaped  the  destructive 
zeal  of  Ximenes  and  the  exhaustive  search  of  prjdng 
alguazils  and  inquisitors.  Their  houses  still  displayed 
the  splendid  decorations  peculiar  to  the  palmy  days 
of  the  emirate;  marble  halls  and  alabaster  foimtains; 
hangings  of  embossed  and  gilded  leather;  stuccoes 
that  in  elegance  of  design  and  delicacy  of  execution 
equalled  those  of  the  Alhambra.  In  the  Vega  were 
many  estates,  cultivated  by  their  dependents,  which 
returned  each  year  a  large  and  profitable  income.  All 
of  these  landed  possessions  were  unceremoniously 
appropriated  by  the  Spaniards,  and  the  personal 
effects  sold  by  the  exiles  yielded  scarcely  a  tithe  of 
their  value.  Driven  by  force  from  their  homes,  and 
despoiled  on  every  side,  the  Moriscoes  pursued  their 
sorrowful  way.  Reared  in  comfort  and  afifaience  and 
accustomed  to  luxury,  they  were  ill-fitted  for  a  long 
and  toilsome  journey.  Few  of  the  multitude  that 
started  arrived  at  their  destination.  The  hardships 
incident  to  travel  and  exposure  to  the  burning  heat 
proved  fatal  to  himdreds.  Many  expired  from  grief, 
from  hunger,  from  disease.     Others  were  wantonly 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  279 

killed  by  their  guards,  who  plundered,  without  hesi- 
tancy or  compunction,  both  the  living  and  the  dead. 
When  this  source  of  profit  was  exhausted,  the  strong- 
est men  and  the  most  attractive  women  were  sold  as 
slaves.  The  condition  of  the  few  survivors  who  ar- 
rived at  Seville  was  so  deplorable  that  even  the  com- 
passion of  ecclesiastics,  whose  lives  had  been  passed 
in  the  infliction  of  persecution  and  torture,  was  ex- 
cited. The  greater  portion  of  the  inhabitants,  how- 
ever, regarded  these  victims  of  tyranny  with  indiffer- 
ence or  curiosity.  The  sufferings  of  tender  youth,  of 
decrepit  age,  of  beauty  in  distress,  awakened  no  sym- 
pathy; and  if  any  feelings  were  exhibited  by  the 
throngs  that  lined  the  highways  along  which,  under 
a  scorching  sun,  the  fainting  exiles  staggered,  they 
were  those  of  bitter  enmity  and  of  exultation  at  the 
misfortunes  of  heretics  who  had  forfeited  all  title  to 
humanity  through  the  inherited  blood  of  a  despised 
and  conquered  race. 

No  beneficial  consequences  resulted  from  this  meas- 
ure, as  cruel  as  it  was  unwise.  The  insurgents  con- 
tinued their  depredations.  Every  straggler  was  killed; 
and  no  foraging  party  whose  force  was  less  than  that 
of  a  regiment  could  hope  to  return.  The  Moriscoes 
by  degrees  became  more  daring,  and  it  was  no  longer 
safe  for  individuals  to  venture  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  camp.  The  encoimters  were  all  to  the  advantage 
of  the  rebels;  and  the  great  city  of  Almeria,  by  the 
merest  accident,  escaped  falling  into  their  hands.  The 
latter,  however,  were  not  only  imable  to  cope  with  the 
entire  power  of  the  Spanish  monarchy,  but  were  even 
unprovided  with  the  means  necessary  for  the  reten- 
tion of  their  paltry  conquests.  Even  in  a  situation 
where  unity  was  more  than  ever  indispensable  to  self- 
preservation,  the  irrepressible  tendency  of  the  Arab 
mind  to  factional  disturbance  began  to  manifest  itself. 
Nine  centuries  of  national  disaster  had  been  insuffi- 


1 


280  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

cient  to  repress  the  tribal  hatred  and  the  thirst  for 
private  vengeance  which  had  sapped  the  vitality  and 
finally  torn  into  fragments  the  reakn  of  a  vast  and 
splendid  empire.  The  Moor  was  incapable  of  profit- 
^g  hy  experience.  The  law  of  reprisal,  that  accursed 
legacy  of  his  Bedouin  forefathers,  had  never  been 
lost  sight  of,  even  amidst  all  the  cultiu'e  and  all  the 
wisdom  of  his  civilization.  It  was  the  most  powerful 
and  effective  weapon  that  his  enemies  possessed,  and 
it  was  eternally  used  to  his  prejudice.  To  its  aid  the 
Reconquest  was  far  more  indebted  than  to  the  energy 
of  Alfonso  VI.  or  to  the  craft  of  Ferdinand  the 
Catholic.  It  won  more  battles  than  all  the  conquer- 
ing sovereigns  from  Pelayus  to  Isabella.  No  Cas- 
tilian  prince  had  ever  failed  to  recognize  its  impor- 
tance or  to  profit  by  its  employment.  And  now,  in 
the  remote  Alpuj  arras,  the  last  resort  of  Moorish 
valor  and  ambition,  it  was  again  to  be  wielded  with 
even  more  fatal  and  demoralizing  effects  than  had 
ever  marked  its  use  since  the  troublous  epoch  which 
followed  the  decline  of  the  Omomeyade  supremacy. 

The  popularity  of  Ibn-Onuneyah  had  of  late 
greatly  suffered  through  the  strictness  of  the  dis- 
cipline which  he  had  inaugurated  and  the  oppressive 
acts  of  his  advisers,  for  the  most  part  men  of  obscure 
lineage  and  grasping  avarice.  The  soldiers,  accus- 
tomed to  the  exercise  of  the  greatest  freedom  in  their 
conduct  and  in  their  treatment  of  the  enemy,  viewed 
with  unconcealed  disgust  the  restraints  to  which  they 
were  subjected.  In  the  councillors  of  their  king,  the 
rich  Moriscoes,  who  had  forfeited  their  lives  and  ex- 
pended their  treasure  in  sustaining  his  pretensions, 
saw  a  band  of  robbers,  who  abused  the  opportunities 
of  their  positions  for  their  own  pecuniary  benefit. 
Especially  were  those  whose  wealth  made  them  con- 
spicuous the  objects  of  the  selfish  animadversion  of 
these  base-bom  officials.     No  person  of  eminence. 


Moorish  Empiele  in  Europe  281 

whether  civilian  or  military  officer,  was  safe  from  the 
denwiciation  of  informers.  The  experience  of  Ibn- 
Ommeyah,  and  his  frequent  escapes  from  premedi- 
tated treachery,  had  made  him  impulsive,  vindictive, 
and  cruel.  Constantly  exposed  to  danger,  he  was  only 
too  ready  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  suspicion,  and  in 
the  court  of  a  despot  the  punishment  follows  swiftly 
upon  the  accusation.  Besides  the  alienation  of  many 
of  his  principal  adherents  from  the  above-mentioned 
causes,  Ibn-Ommeyah  had  recently  gained  for  him- 
self, by  an  egregious  act  of  folly,  the  enmity  of  one 
of  the  most  powerful  tribes  in  the  kingdom. 

Among  the  most  distinguished  families  of  Granada 
was  that  of  the  Beni-Alguazil-al-Karimi,  in  which 
was  vested,  by  hereditary  right,  the  office  of  vizier  of 
the  district  of  Ujijar.  Inherited  rivalry,  the  pride 
of  conscious  merit,  and  the  jealousy  of  power  had 
made  the  Beni-Alguazil  the  enemies  of  the  house  of 
Ibn-Ommeyah.  Their  hostility,  manifested  upon 
more  than  one  occasion,  had  aroused  the  apprehen- 
sions of  the  Moorish  prince;  and  the  assassination  of 
Miguel  de  Rojas,  the  chief  of  the  tribe,  was,  not  with- 
out probability,  attributed  to  his  instigation.  In  con- 
sequence, the  Beni-Alguazil,  while  unwiUing  to  assist 
the  Christian  foe,  maintained  a  suspicious  and  sullen 
demeanor,  and,  with  the  characteristic  vindictiveness 
of  the  Arab,  awaited  patiently  the  moment  of  reprisal. 
With  a  perfidy  natural  to  his  character,  and  from 
the  effects  of  which  he  was  ultimately  destined  to 
perish,  Ibn-Ommeyah  had  adopted  the  custom  of  pro- 
moting to  favor  and  apparent  confidence  those  whom 
he  had  already  marked  for  destruction.  Among  those 
who  shared  this  perilous  honor  was  Diego  Alguazil, 
a  member  of  the  rival  clan,  whose  animosity  had  been 
soothed  by  the  gifts  and  the  consideration  he  received 
at  the  hands  of  his  sovereign.  In  his  harem  was  a 
lovely  slave,  the  perfection  of  whose  charms,  impru- 


282  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

dently  disclosed  by  her  master,  aroused  the  curiosity 
and  inflamed  the  desires  of  Ibn-Ommeyah.  Consid- 
erations of  policy  or  justice  were  of  trying  moment 
where  the  imgovemable  passions  of  the  Moorish  king 
were  concerned;  the  slave  was  rudely  appropriated 
without  apology  or  compensation;  and  this  arbitrary 
invasion  of  the  rights  of  a  subject  raised  up  for  Ibn- 
Ommeyah  an  implacable  enemy.  The  ambition  of 
the  beautiful  Zahra,  who  aspired  to  the  position  of 
Sultana,  was  disappointed  by  her  continuance  in  an 
inferior  rank,  and,  her  hopes  thus  blasted,  she  found 
in  her  former  master  a  pliant  and  serviceable  instru- 
ment of  revenge.  The  support  of  other  malcontents, 
dissatisfied  with  the  cruelly  and  arrogance  of  their 
king,  was  readily  secured;  the  fears  of  the  royal 
guard  of  six  hundred  Tiirks  were  excited  by  an  in- 
genious, but  discreditable,  stratagem;  and  Ibn-Om- 
meyah, torn  from  the  arms  of  his  women  and  thrown 
into  prison,  perished  miserably  before  morning  at  the 
hands  of  the  executioner.  His  death  seemed  not  en- 
tirely unjustifiable,  for  he  proclaimed  with  his  last 
breath  his  secret  and  unshaken  belief  in  the  Christian 
religion.  The  hypocrisy,  which,  for  the  sake  of  lux- 
ury and  power,  could  feign  attachment  to  a  creed  that 
upon  the  slightest  pretext  it  was  ready  to  betray,  was 
not  imworthily  pimished  by  the  treachery  of  a  slave. 
Ibn-Abu,  a  cousin  of  Ibn-Ommeyah,  succeeded  to  the 
empty  honors  and  dangerous  responsibilities  of  a  tot- 
tering throne.  The  treasures  of  the  palace  and  the 
seraglio  were  divided  among  the  conspirators.  The 
guards,  whose  fidelity  to  the  new  administration  was 
suspected,  were  disbanded;  the  impopular  officials, 
deprived  of  the  power  which  they  had  abused  and  the 
wealth  which  they  had  accumulated  by  extortion  and 
perfidy,  were  despoiled  and  exiled;  and  the  new  King, 
crowned  at  Lanjar  with  all  the  pomp  which  the  lim- 
ited resources  that  a  fugitive  court  and  an  impover- 


MooBiSH  Emfike  in  Eubope  288 

ished  treasury  could  command,  assumed,  with  an  ap- 
pearance of  confidence,  the  direction  of  a  government 
divided  against  itself  and  confronted  with  the  com- 
bined and  resistless  power  of  the  Spanish  monarchy. 

Ibn-Abu,  when  invested  with  the  royal  dignity,  of 
whose  precarious  character  he  was  perfectly  aware, 
but  whose  acceptance  he  was  afraid  to  refuse,  was  far 
past  the  prime  of  life.  In  the  course  of  an  eventful 
and  romantic  career,  he  had  undergone  many  exciting 
and  hazardous  experiences.  From  his  youth  iden- 
tified with  the  party  hostile  to  the  Christians,  his 
fidelity  to  the  Moslem  cause  had  been  severely  tested 
on  niunerous  occasions.  Implicated  with  the  monfis, 
he  had  submitted  to  torture  and  had  been  sent  to  the 
galleys  rather  than  betray  his  comrades.  Again,  for 
refusing  to  disclose  the  hiding-place  of  his  sovereign, 
he  was  subjected  to  a  shocking  and  indescribable  mu- 
tilation. His  sufi^erings  had  confirmed  his  loyalty  and 
intensified  his  hatred;  the  noble  qualities  with  which 
he  was  endowed  endeared  him  to  his  countrymen;  but 
his  indecision,  his  lack  of  energy,  and  his  inability  to 
profit  by  the  means  at  his  disposal  in  the  presence  of 
any  sudden  exigency  unfitted  him  for  the  position  of 
responsibility  to  wWch  he  had  been  so  unexpectedly 
promoted.  In  spite  of  the  disadvantages  imder  which 
he  labored,  he,  however,  soon  plated  his  forces  upon  a 
more  efi^ective  footing,  and  his  position  was  greatly 
strengthened  by  the  discord  of  his  enemies. 

The  reforms  inaugurated  by  Don  John  of  Austria 
proved  impracticable  when  their  full  import  became 
known  to  the  soldiers  and  they  began  to  experience 
the  inconveniences  attendant  upon  military  restraint. 
Feudal  customs  also  interfered  with  the  enforcement 
of  discipline;  and  the  lords,  fearful  of  a  retrench- 
ment of  their  own  privileges,  indulged  their  vassals 
in  acts  of  rapine  prejudicial  to  the  well-being  of  the 
entire  army.    The  quarrels  and  recriminations  of  the 


284  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

Marquis  de  Monde  jar  and  the  Marquis  de  los  Velez, 
so  far  from  being  extinguished  by  the  appointment 
of  a  commander-in-chief,  became  more  aggravated 
and  violent  than  ever.  The  power  of  the  latter  was 
hampered  by  contradictory  orders  from  Madrid,  and 
the  prosecution  of  energetic  measures  was  prevented 
by  incessant  and  acrimonious  disputes.  As  soon  as 
the  prospect  of  booty  was  diminished,  the  army  was 
threatened  with  dissolution.  Desertions  were  so  com- 
mon and  their  effect  was  so  demoralizing  that  all  re- 
views were  abandoned,  in  order  that  the  enemy  might 
not  become  acquainted  with  the  diminished  numbers 
of  their  antagonists.  Scores  of  officers  were  cashiered 
for  peculation;  but  their  successors,  unintimidated  by 
the  penalty,  followed,  without  hesitation,  their  dis- 
graceful example.  In  the  markets  of  the  dty,  the 
government  supplies  were  publicly  exposed  for  sale 
by  the  conmiissaries.  The  camp  was  filled  with  spies. 
Not  only  had  many  Moriscoes  enlisted  with  the  object 
of  betraying  their  comrades,  but  the  Spaniards  them- 
selves constantly  sold  both  official  secrets  and  arms  to 
the  rebels.  Entire  garrisons  mutinied  because  of  the 
necessary  precautions  instituted  by  their  commanders; 
and  it  was  not  imusual  for  parties  organized  for  rob- 
bery to  leave  their  posts  in  violation  of  the  express 
orders  of  the  general.  Of  these  marauders  few  re- 
turned, but  their  fate  failed  to  deter  others;  the  love 
of  plunder  prevailed  over  every  other  incentive;  and 
the  safety  of  the  troops  was  often  jeopardized  by  the 
misconduct  of  unprincipled  adventurers,  whose  inso- 
lence and  insubordination  even  the  highest  authority 
seemed  unable  to  restrain.  These  breaches  of  order 
and  discipline  were  by  no  means  confined  to  the  ranks ; 
every  grade  of  the  military  was  aflFected;  and  no  less 
a  personage  than  the  Marquis  de  los  Velez  himself 
assumed  the  right  to  act  independently  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, and  to  disregard  all  orders  from 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  286 

head-quarters  unless  they  suited  his  convenience  or 
promoted  his  interest. 

The  army  of  Ibn-Abu  amounted  to  twelve  thousand 
men,  of  whom  four  thousand  were  thoroughly  drilled 
arquebusiers.  This  force,  though  for  the  most  part 
well  equipped,  experienced  in  war,  aided  by  the  advan- 
tages of  situation,  and  fighting  for  liberty  on  its  own 
ground,  was  unable  to  accomplish  any  important  re- 
sult, even  when  engaged  with  a  demoralized  enemy. 
The  achievements  of  tiie  Moriscoes,  limited  to  the 
blockade  of  a  few  fortresses  and  to  marauding  expe- 
ditions that  harassed  the  cultivators  of  the  Vega,  are 
scarcely  worthy  of  notice,  still  less  of  detailed  nar- 
ration. In  the  vicinity  of  Orgiba  and  Baza  their 
troops  appeared  in  force,  but  retired  at  once  at  the 
approach  of  the  Christians.  It  was  only  by  the  prac- 
tice of  treacherous  methods  that  the  Moorish  tactics 
ever  prevailed.  The  want  of  stability  and  resolution 
which  had  proved  fatal  to  the  permanence  of  the 
Hispano-Arab  empire  survived  in  the  final  operations 
of  the  Morisco  rebellion.  The  superior  steadiness  of 
the  Spanish  infantry  invariably  carried  the  day,  even 
against  overwhelming  odds.  The  Moors  were  easily 
disheartened ;  after  a  trifling  repulse  it  was  impossible 
to  rally  them;  and,  even  when  protected  by  fortifica- 
tions, they  could  not  withstand  the  dogged  pertinacity 
which  was  a  prominent  trait  of  the  Castilian. 

With  the  appearance  of  Don  John  of  Austria  in 
the  field,  hostilities  were  prosecuted  with  more  rigor 
and  with  greater  cruelty.  The  unimportant  but 
bloody  successes  of  the  Moors  had  infused  into  the 
Spanish  soldiery  an  even  more  pitiless  spirit  than  be- 
fore. The  Austrian  prince,  at  first  disposed  to  leni- 
ency, soon  became,  through  association  and  prejudice, 
as  unfeeling  as  the  meanest  soldier  in  the  ranks.  The 
siege  and  assault  of  Galera,  which  was  the  turning- 
point  of  the  war,  exemplified,  in  a  striking  degree,  the 


286  History  of  the 

dominant  principle  which  actuated  the  minds  of  those 
who  directed  the  campaign.  That  town,  situated  upon 
an  isolated  rock,  was  one  of  the  most  strongly  fortified 
places  in  Spain.  In  addition  to  its  position,  its  facili- 
ties for  defence  were  excellent.  Its  garrison  was  com- 
posed of  three  thousand  veterans.  Its  supplies  were 
ample,  and  the  prudence  of  Ibn-Abu,  who  fully  ap- 
preciated its  value,  had  long  before  filled  to  overflow- 
ing its  magazine  and  its  arsenal.  Two  falconets, 
one  of  which  had  been  captured  from  the  Marquis 
de  los  Velez,  defended  the  castle,  an  unusual  advan- 
tage, for  the  Moriscoes  were  generally  unprovided 
even  with  such  insignificant  artillery.  A  concealed 
gallery  cut  through  the  mountain,  and  extending 
below  the  bed  of  the  river  at  its  base,  provided  the 
inhabitants  with  water,  whose  existence,  unknown  to 
the  enemy,  made  its  destruction  impossible.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  garrison,  the  walls  of  Galera  sheltered  a 
population  of  five  thousand,  including  residents  and 
refugees. 

Every  precaution  that  skill  and  experience  could 
suggest  had  been  adopted  to  strengthen  the  defences 
of  a  place  regarded  as  already  impregnable.  Barri- 
cades were  erected  at  frequent  intervals  in  the  streets, 
and  between  them  the  houses  were  pierced  with  open- 
ings, to  facilitate  communication  and  afford  means 
of  retreat.  The  town,  built  in  terraces  upon  the 
sloping  rock,  offered  an  ascending  series  of  lines  of 
resistance.  Those  ordinarily  considered  as  non-com- 
batants were  animated  by  a  spirit  of  determination 
equal,  if  not  superior,  to  that  of  the  garrison,  and 
their  presence  promised  to  be  an  important  aid  rather 
than  a  drawback  in  the  impending  contest. 

Twelve  thousand  men,  commanded  by  Don  John 
of  Austria  in  person,  invested  Galera  on  the  eigh- 
teenth day  of  January,  1570.  The  approaches  to  the 
town  were  defended  with  stubborn  resolution.    When 


Moorish  Empib£  in  Europe  287 

forced  behind  the  walls,  it  became  evident  that  the 
position  of  the  Moriscoes  was  so  strong  that  ordinary 
methods  of  assault  must  prove  useless.  Mining  was 
therefore  resorted  to;  and  a  passage,  terminating 
under  the  citadel,  was  cut  with  infinite  trouble  through 
the  solid  rock.  As  soon  as  it  was  completed,  a  storm- 
ing party  was  detailed  for  the  attack,  and  the  explo- 
sion of  forty-five  barrels  of  gunpowder  announced 
that  tiie  mine  had  been  sprung.  Little  damage  was 
done  to  the  castle,  however;  the  walls  remained  in- 
tact; and  the  Spaniards  were  driven  back  with  heavy 
loss.  Two  other  mines  were  opened  and  exploded, 
and  three  assaults  were  made  simultaneously.  One 
explosion  effected  some  injury,  but  the  ruins  raised 
by  the  other  counteracted  it;  the  loss  of  the  insur- 
gents was  trifling;  and  again  the  Spaniards  sustained 
a  bloody  and  serious  repulse. 

Another  charge,  in  which  the  besiegers — ^infuriated 
by  the  fall  of  their  general,  who  was  struck  by  a 
bullet  which  his  armor  of  proof  fortunately  deflected 
— succeeded  in  passing  the  ramparts,  procured  for 
them  admission  into  the  streets.  Here  they  were  met 
by  scarcely  less  formidable  obstacles,  and  their  ad- 
vance was,  foot  by  foot,  contested.  Amidst  these 
frightful  scenes,  the  people  of  Galera  vied  in  gal- 
lantry with  the  soldiers  of  the  garrison.  Old  men 
fought  bravely  in  the  foremost  line  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  their  homes.  The  wounded  and  dying  re- 
ceived the  grateful  ministrations  of  delicate  women, 
who  fearlessly  exposed  themselves  to  fire  in  the  dis- 
charge of  the  offices  of  mercy.  Even  children  of 
tender  years,  undismayed  by  the  smoke  and  din  of 
battle,  carried  missiles  to  repel  the  enemy.  The  con- 
test soon  assumed  the  character  of  a  hand-to-hand 
encounter.  The  barricaded  streets,  the  battlemented 
houses — ^built  of  stone  and  with  few  openings — 
checked  at  each  step  the  progress  of  the  assailants. 


288  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

For  nine  hours  with  incessant  fury  the  battle  raged. 
At  length  the  survivors  were  driven  into  an  angle  of 
the  fortifications  from  whence  there  was  no  escape. 
Here,  in  the  face  of  a  relentless  foe,  the  Moriscoes 
made  their  final  stand,  without  the  hope  of  clemency 
or  the  fear  of  death.  Young  girls  died,  scimetar  in 
hand,  with  a  resolution  foreign  to  their  age  and  sex. 
Fathers  deliberately  killed  their  wives  and  children, 
and  then  rushed  forward  to  perish  on  the  weapons  of 
the  Spaniards.  Even  the  veterans  of  Italy,  accus- 
tomed to  the  atrocities  characteristic  of  the  wars  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  were  sickened  by  the  frightful 
carnage.  The  population  was  almost  annihilated. 
Of  eight  thousand  persons  who  had  composed  it, 
fifteen  hundred  women  and  children  alone  survived 
the  final  assault,  which,  not  inclusive  of  the  losses  of 
the  besiegers,  cost  thirty-six  hundred  lives.  The  ava- 
rice of  the  victors  had  spared  four  hundred  helpless 
captives,  whom  Don  John  of  Austria,  enraged  at  the 
casualties  which  his  army  had  suffered,  caused  to  be 
butchered  in  his  presence.  In  this  diabolical  massacre 
the  halberdiers  of  the  royal  guard  took  a  conspicuous 
part,  encouraged  by  the  approving  gestures  of  their 
commander,  who  regarded  with  pious  complacency 
the  extermination  of  these  rebellious  infidels. 

The  siege  of  Galera  is  memorable,  not  only  on  ac- 
count of  the  gallantry  of  the  defence,  but  also  from 
the  fact  that  it  indicates  the  true  beginning  of  the 
military  career  of  the  future  hero  of  Lepanto.  While 
in  reality  reflecting  but  little  credit  upon  the  reputa- 
tion of  that  prince,  the  popularity  he  acquired  by  the 
achievement  discloses  the  moral  perversity  of  the  pub- 
lic mind  in  that  fanatical  age.  Not  a  word  was  uttered 
in  censure  of  the  savage  vindictiveness  directed  against 
the  aged  and  the  helpless,  a  class  whose  condition 
appeals  to  the  most  generous  impulses  of  mankind, 
but  whose  fate  was  universally  applauded  by  bigots 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  289 

of  every  degree,  as  one  step  more  towards  the  extir- 
pation of  heresy.  A  spirit  of  inherent  deviltry 
seemed  to  distinguish  for  centuries  the  princes  of 
the  monarchy  established  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 
The  progressive  decadence  of  that  monarchy  from 
the  day  of  its  foundation — ^imperceptible  at  first,  and 
concealing  the  incurable  defects  of  the  Castilian  polity 
by  the  spurious  glory  of  unprofitable  wars  and  ruin- 
ous triumphs,  and  the  genuine  splendors  of  unparal- 
leled discoveries,  whose  proceeds  were  employed  for 
the  oppression  and  debasement  of  countless  millions 
of  human  beings — is  one  of  the  most  significant  and 
instructive  events  in  the  history  of  mankind. 

The  capture  of  Galera  was  a  dearly  purchased  vic- 
tory. The  character  of  the  resistance  offered  by  its 
defenders  did  not  afford  a  flattering  prospect  for  the 
success  of  similar  enterprises  in  the  future.  Many 
important  strongholds,  as  difficult  of  approach,  of 
equal  strength,  and  of  larger  population,  were  still 
in  the  hands  of  the  insurgents.  The  fate  of  the  place, 
while  a  warning,  served  rather  to  confirm  the  obsti- 
nacy than  to  arouse  the  trepidation  of  the  Moriscoes. 
Their  dauntless  courage  had  left  hundreds  of  their 
enemies  on  the  field.  The  bodies  of  Moor  and  Chris- 
tian alike  strewed  the  ramparts;  and  in  the  streets 
through  which  had  surged  the  ever-advancing  tide 
of  battle  had  fallen  many  of  the  most  distinguished 
nobles  in  the  Spanish  service.  Realizing  the  difii- 
culties  he  was  liable  to  encounter,  Don  John  made  a 
demand  upon  the  King  for  men  and  money.  Rein- 
forcements were  easily  obtained,  but  only  through  the 
clergy,  who,  as  a  rule,  were  always  ready  to  profit  by 
a  crusade,  but  who  generally  regarded  their  spiritual 
aid  as  abundantly  sufficient,  and  were  never  eager  to 
furnish  substantial  contributions,  could  funds  for  the 
prosecution  of  the  war  be  procured.  This  was  accom- 
plished by  the  establishment  of  religious  brotherhoods 

Vol.  JIL— 19 


290  History  of  the  '  '^ 

in  every  diocese,  whose  members,  by  the  purdiase  of 
indulgences,  could  thus  perform  a  service  of  signal 
merit  to  the  Church  and,  at  the  same  time,  secure 
absolution  for  their  sins.  The  scheme  proved  remark- 
ably successful;  and  larger  sums  were  eventually 
collected  than  those  yielded  by  the  sale  of  similar 
concessions  issued  for  this  purpose  directly  from  tlie 
Holy  See. 

Papal  influence,  at  that  time  predominant  in  Eu- 
ropean politics,  had,  immediately  after  the  storming 
of  Galera,  tendered  to  the  Austrian  prince,  through 
Philip,  the  place  of  generalissimo  of  the  Holy 
League  against  the  Turks.  The  vast  international 
interests  which  depended  upon  the  proper  exercise  of 
this  office  could  not  be  neglected  or  their  protection 
deferred  until  after  many  months  had  been  consumed 
in  suppressing  the  revolt  of  a  few  thousand  rebels. 
By  that  time  the  Ottoman  fleet  would  have  obtained 
the  supremacy  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  an  innu- 
merable horde  of  bloodtiiirsty  fanatics  have  descended 
upon  the  continent  of  Europe.  While  military  pres- 
tige was  presumably  essential  to  one  accepting  a  posi- 
tion of  such  responsibility  and  power,  the  risks  were 
too  great  and  the  field  too  narrow  to  seek  it  in  a  cam- 
paign of  such  doubtful  results  as  that  against  the 
Moriscoes.  Peremptory  orders  were  sent  Don  John 
to  hasten  by  diplomacy  what  it  had  been  demonstrated 
would  be  both  difficult  and  tedious  to  secure  by  arms. 
An  attempt  was  therefore  made  to  corrupt  the  fidelity 
of  Femando-al-Habaqui,  the  favorite  councillor  of 
Ibn-Abu,  whose  wisdom  and  discernment,  like  those 
of  many  statesmen  of  his  time,  were  superior  to  his 
patriotism  and  integrity.  In  various  interviews, 
nominally  appointed  for  purposes  relating  to  the  ex- 
change of  prisoners,  the  co-operation  of  this  influ- 
ential personage  was  obtained;  he  was  promised  an 
unconditional  pardon ;  and  the  lives  of  those  who  sur- 


MooBisH  Empire  m  Eubofe  291 

rendered  voluntarily  were  to  be  spared.  As  second 
in  command,  he  was  enabled  to  control  a  large  extent 
of  territory  in  the  accomplishment  of  his  treacherous 
design;  all  the  detachments  of  Morisco  troops  out- 
side the  Alpuj arras  and  within  his  jurisdiction  were 
suddenly  withdrawn;  the  dismayed  inhabitants  were 
abandoned  to  their  fate;  many  of  those  taken  were 
reduced  to  slavery  or  sent  to  the  galleys;  some  suc- 
ceeded in  escaping  to  the  moimtains;  and  the  entire 
district  of  the  River  Almanzora,  thus  driven  to  sub- 
mission, yielded  such  a  multitude  of  captives  that  the 
general,  imable  to  feed  or  control  them,  was  com- 
pelled to  leave  them  unmolested  until  arrangements 
could  be  made  for  their  final  disposition.  A  royal 
decree  recently  promulgated  had  ordered  the  removal 
of  all  the  Moriscoes  of  the  lately  conquered  districts 
to  Castile.  This  measure,  nominally  adopted  for  pub- 
lic security,  had,  in  fact,  its  origin  in  more  ignoble 
motives;  in  the  country  of  the  insurgents  a  consider- 
able number  of  Moorish  proprietors  had  succeeded, 
amidst  the  general  confusion,  in  retaining  their 
estates;  and  the  effectual  means  of  disposing  of  ob- 
noxious neighbors  by  enforced  migrations  had  demon- 
strated its  value  when  the  Moriscoes  of  the  Albaycin 
had  perished  miserably  on  the  highways.  The  un- 
fortunate victims  of  state  policy  and  religious  per- 
secution were  surrounded  and  herded  like  cattle;  their 
niunber  is  unrecorded,  but  it  must  have  amounted  to 
thousands;  the  few  effects  which  they  possessed  they 
were  generously  permitted  to  sell  for  a  trifle;  and, 
shelterless  and  almost  naked,  they  were  distributed 
over  the  deserts  of  La  Mancha,  where  the  savage 
peasantry,  considering  them  as  intruders,  inflicted 
upon  these  wretched  exiles  every  outrage  which  ma- 
lignity could  devise  or  lawlessness  execute.  The 
presence  of  the  Moriscoes  in  Castile,  at  that  time  a 
recent  event,  no  doubt  suggested  to  the  fertile  mind 


292  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

of  Cervantes  one  of  the  most  entertaining  episodes 
in  the  crowning  masterpiece  of  Spanish  literature. 

The  remaining  Morisco  strongholds,  contrary  to 
general  expectation,  and  discouraged  by  the  treason 
of  Al-Habaqui,  were  far  from  emulating  the  heroic 
example  of  Galera.  Seron,  Purchena,  Tijola,  all 
well-fortified  towns,  submitted  without  serious  resist- 
ance. Negotiations,  now  authorized  by  Ibn-Abu, 
were  still  carried  on  with  Al-Habaqui,  whose  treach- 
ery does  not  seem  to  have  destroyed  the  harmony 
existing  between  himself  and  his  sovereign.  The 
impatience  of  Don  John  for  the  termination  of  hos- 
tilities induced  him  to  publish  a  proclamation  of 
partial  and  conditional  amnesty.  Its  terms  granted 
life  to  all,  without  distinction,  who  vrithin  twenty 
days  should  surrender;  promised  that  men  between 
the  ages  of  fifteen  and  fifty,  who  within  the  specified 
time  should  deliver  to  the  proper  officials  an  arque- 
buse  or  a  cross-bow,  should  not  be  sold  as  slaves;  and 
required  that  the  leaders  of  the  revolt,  and  such  as 
were  unwilling  to  take  advantage  of  the  proclama- 
tion, should  be  given  up  as  an  indispensable  prelimi- 
nary to  leniency  towards  those  who  submitted.  The 
ambiguity  whidi  pervaded  the  document  caused  it  to 
be  regarded  with  suspicion,  and  the  Moriscoes,  who 
had  learned  by  repeated  experience  the  duplicity  of 
their  enemies,  declined  to  accept  conditions  whose  un- 
certainty offered  such  inducements  to  abuse  and  mis- 
construction, even  if  they  had  not  been  actually  drawn 
up  for  that  purpose. 

Unable  any  longer  to  cope  with  his  adversaries  in 
the  open  field,  Ibn-Abu  adopted  the  more  effective 
policy  of  guerilla  warfare.  His  army,  divided  into 
strong  detachments,  was  posted  at  advantageous 
points  whence  the  operations  of  the  enemy  could  be 
observed  and  conmiunication  easily  maintained.  In 
this  way  the  invaders  were  placed  at  a  great  disad- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  298 

vantage.  The  Moors  retired  before  their  advance; 
the  towns  were  evacuated;  all  property  was  removed 
or  concealed;  convoys  were  cut  off;  and  the  army 
of  the  Duke  of  Sesa,  who  commanded  the  Christians, 
was  almost  reduced  to  extremity  by  famine.  It  be- 
came absolutely  necessary  to  establish  a  base  of  sup- 
pliesy  and  the  Marquis  of  Favara  was  despatched  with 
a  considerable  force  to  Calahorra.  The  Spaniards 
reached  their  destination  in  safety;  but  their  move- 
ments had  not  escaped  the  vigilance  of  the  moun- 
taineers; and  their  return  march,  conducted  without 
the  precautions  adopted  by  every  wise  commander, 
encountered  an  ambuscade  in  the  valley  of  Ravaha. 
Here  the  road,  so  constructed  that  four  men  could 
with  diflSculty  move  abreast,  was  blocked  by  loaded 
beasts  of  burden,  purposely  left  there  by  the  Moors; 
and  the  soldiers,  tempted  by  the  hope  of  plunder, 
broke  into  disorder  to  seize  them.  The  measures  of 
Ibn-Abu  had  been  taken  with  consummate  skill.  The 
Spaniards,  hopelessly  entangled  in  the  narrow  defile 
and  completely  surrounded,  were  ruthlessly  slaugh- 
tered. In  former  attacks  the  mountains  had  always  re- 
soimded  with  the  piercing  war-cries  of  the  assailants, 
but  now  not  a  sound,  save  the  scattering  reports  of 
arquebuses  and  the  whistling  of  arrows,  broke  the 
ominous  stillness  of  the  scene.  The  advance  guard 
and  the  centre  had  been  destroyed  before  the  Marquis 
was  even  apprized  of  the  presence  of  an  enemy.  He 
effected  his  escape  only  by  superhuman  exertion,  and 
of  the  sixteen  hundred  soldiers  who  composed  his 
command  fourteen  hundred  atoned  for  the  military 
crimes  of  official  negligence  and  disregard  of  disci- 
pline. On  the  Moorish  side  not  a  man  was  killed,  and 
less  than  twenty  were  wounded.  History  affords  but 
few  parallels  to  the  battle  of  Ravaha  when  both  the 
numbers  engaged  and  the  immunity  of  the  victors  are 
considered. 


294  History  of  the 

This  disaster  compelled  a  precipitate  retreat,  and, 
unmolested  by  the  enemy,  who  had  ample  opportu- 
nities to  intercept  them,  the  Spaniards  fell  back  upon 
Adra.  Such  was  their  desperate  condition  from 
himger  that  the  gardens  and  orchards  in  the  neigh- 
borhood were  stripped  of  everything  edible,  and  tiie 
chronicles  relate  that  not  even  a  leaf  remained.  The 
capture  of  the  insignificant  fortress  of  Castil-de- 
Ferro,  whose  garrison  numbered  less  than  a  hundred, 
was  the  only  exploit  which  relieved  the  disastrous 
monotony  of  the  Duke  of  Sesa's  campaign.  The 
Alpuj  arras,  although  still  occupied  by  the  Moriscoes, 
were  practically  untenable.  Every  hostile  army  which 
had  entered  their  defiles  had  marked  with  utter  devas- 
tation an  area  of  many  square  leagues.  The  fields 
were  laid  waste.  The  villages  were  burned.  Infor- 
mation of  the  hidden  magazines  of  the  inhabitants 
was  sold  by  their  coimtrymen,  and  the  stores  destined 
for  the  winter  were  carried  away  or  destroyed.  At 
many  points  the  peasantry  had  sought  refuge  in  caves. 
It  was  a  favorite  diversion  of  the  Spaniards  to  stifle 
these  wretches  with  smoke,  like  so  many  wild  animals 
in  their  burrows.  The  survivors  were  hunted  like 
game  through  the  moxmtains.  On  a  single  occasion, 
Don  John  received  a  most  acceptable  gift  of  four 
hundred  heads  and  eleven  hundred  captives.  It  was 
a  remarkable  circumstance  when  any  considerable 
body  of  insurgents  were  taken,  for  indiscriminate 
massacre  was  the  rule  of  every  campaign.  It  was 
considered  a  peculiarly  pious  and  meritorious  action 
to  ransom  prisoners  and  present  them  to  the  Inquisi- 
tion. The  fate  for  which  these  unfortunate  victims 
were  reserved  made  the  most  shocking  enormities  of 
open  warfare  seem  trivial  in  comparison. 

The  relations  of  Al-Habaqui  with  the  Christians 
were  now  generally  known;  his  influence  was  con- 
stantly solicited  by  his  countrymen;   and  his  power 


Moorish  Empike  in  1Susop£  296 

became  so  great  that  even  Ibn-Abu  himself  was  com- 
pelled to  pay  court  to  his  minister,  and  comitenance 
proceedings  of  which  he  heartily  disapproved  to  avoid 
incurring  the  hostility  of  a  favorite  in  whom  was 
practically  vested  the  supreme  authority.  The  latter 
considered  that  the  time  had  at  last  arrived  for  the 
conclurion  of  his  treasonable  negotiations.  With  the 
countenance  of  Ibn-Abu,  and  accompanied  by  seven- 
teen Moriscoes  of  rank,  he  met  the  commissioners  of 
Don  John  at  Andarax.  Nothing  came  of  the  con- 
ference, but  the  secret  understanding  between  the 
minister  and  the  Spaniards  was  carried  out  as  pre- 
arranged. An  adroit  substitution  of  a  document  em- 
bodying the  concessions  of  the  Spaniards  for  the  one 
containing  the  demands  of  the  Moriscoes  completed 
the  deception  of  the  latter;  the  arrogance  of  the  Cas- 
tilians  caused  a  withdrawal  of  the  envoys;  and  Al- 
Habaqui,  with  a  single  companion,  appeared  before 
Don  John  and,  in  the  name  of  Ibn-Abu,  gave  up  his 
own  sdmetar  and  answered  for  the  surrender  of  the 
insurgents.  This  farce  had  but  little  effect,  and  was 
speedily  repudiated  by  the  Morisco  king.  Then  Al- 
Habaqui  received  eight  hundred  gold  ducats  from  the 
Spanish  general,  with  which  to  raise  a  company  whose 
especial  mission  it  was  to  bring  in  Ibn-Abu,  dead  or 
alive.  The  prominence  of  Al-Habaqui  had  turned  his 
head.  His  imprudent  boasts  betrayed  him;  he  was 
seized  by  the  Turks,  imprisoned,  and  strangled.  The 
treaty  he  had  negotiated  at  the  sacrifice  of  every  prin- 
ciple of  honor  and  patriotism  died  with  him.  Ibn- 
Abu  used  every  expedient  to  keep  the  execution  of 
bis  treacherous  minister  from  obtaining  publicity. 
Still  resolved  on  resistance,  he  hoped  by  temporizing 
with  the  enemy  to  procure  better  terms.  His  resources 
were  by  no  means  exhausted.  Five  thousand  well- 
equipped  veterans  were  under  his  command.  He 
entertained  hopes  of  assistance  from  Africa — ^that 


296  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

ignis  f  atuus  of  every  Moslem  revolution,  which  prom- 
ised so  much  and  always  ended  in  nothing.  In  the 
mean  time  all  was  uncertainty  in  the  Christian  camp. 
Although  a  formal  capitulation  by  an  authorized 
functionary  had  been  formally  signed,  no  insurgents 
surrendered.  The  whereabouts  of  Al-Habaqui  were 
unknown,  and,  while  his  death  was  unsuspected,  his 
absence  could  not  be  explained.  Under  a  safe-conduct 
an  envoy  was  despatched  to  the  Morisco  king;  he  soon 
ascertained  the  truth  and  carried  back  a  message  of 
defiance.  Preparations  were  at  once  made  for  a  re- 
newal of  hostilities;  the  Spanish  army,  in  three  divi- 
sions, advanced  upon  the  Alpuj  arras  from  as  many 
different  directions,  and  every  effort  was  exerted  to 
close  the  war  by  a  vigorously  prosecuted  campaign. 
The  situation  of  Ibn-Abu  now  became  critical.  The 
country  in  which  he  was  compelled  to  operate  had  been 
stripped  of  everything  that  could  sustain  life.  Much 
of  it  that  a  few  years  previously  exhibited  a  high  de- 
gree of  cultivation  had  been  transformed  into  a  prime- 
val solitude,  where  only  the  charred  remnants  of  once 
flourishing  settlements  attested  the  former  presence 
of  man.  His  army  was  discouraged  by  the  unrelent- 
ing pursuit  of  the  enemy.  As  usual,  the  faithfully 
promised  support  from  Africa  proved  a  delusion. 

The  Moorish  prince  sent  his  brother,  Mohammed- 
al-Galipa,  an  experienced  captain,  to  direct  the  insur- 
rection in  the  Serrania  de  Ronda.  Betrayed  by  a 
Christian  guide,  who  led  him  within  the  Spanish  lines, 
he  was  killed,  and  his  escort  of  two  himdred  picked 
soldiers  destroyed.  In  Valencia,  a  conspiracy  formed 
in  collusion  with  the  Moriscoes  of  the  Alpuj  arras  was 
detected  before  it  had  time  to  mature,  and  its  insti- 
gators were  pimished  with  merciless  cruelty.  Encom- 
passed by  a  numerous  and  powerful  foe,  Ibn-Abu  rec- 
ognized the  impossibility  of  resistance  and  disbanded 
his  army.    A  few  of  his  adherents  took  refuge  among 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  297 

their  kindred  in  Barbary.  The  majority,  however, 
unable  to  escape  and  disdaining  submission,  which  im- 
pUed  a  slavery  worse  than  death  or  inquisitorial  tor- 
ture, remained  with  their  sovereign.  All  were  scat- 
tered through  the  movmtains  and  found  shelter  in  the 
caves  of  that  region,  which  were  known  only  to  shep- 
herds and  to  those  whose  haunts  were  in  the  wildest 
and  most  ruggied  parts  of  the  sierra.  The  march  of 
the  Spaniards  was  accomplished  amidst  the  silence 
of  desolation.  In  the  distance  at  times  could  be  seen 
jSying  parties  of  scouts,  but  no  resistance  was  encoun- 
tered. Whatever  had  escaped  the  destructive  progress 
of  former  expeditions  was  now  annihilated.  Soldiers 
wandering  in  quest  of  plunder  occasionally  stumbled 
upon  an  inhabited  cavern;  its  inmates  were  driven  out 
by  fire,  and  the  infliction  of  torture  soon  disclosed  the 
location  of  others.  In  one  of  these  the  wife  and 
daughters  of  Ibn-Abu  were  suffocated,  while  he,  with 
two  companions,  escaped  through  a  secret  opening  in 
the  mountain.  The  insatiable  thirst  of  blood  and 
booty  which  urged  on  the  invaders  rendered  protracted 
concealment  impossible.  With  each  new  discovery, 
other  places  of  refuge  were  successively  revealed 
through  the  unsparing  and  diabohcal  torments  devised 
by  the  Castilians.  The  women  were  spared  and  con- 
demned to  slavery.  Male  captives  under  twenty,  as 
a  rule,  shared  a  similar  fate;  all  over  that  age  were 
put  to  death,  some  amidst  prolonged  and  frightful 
sufferings.  Rank,  innocence,  the  helplessness  of  age, 
the  touching  infirmity  of  disease,  important  services 
previously  rendered  to  the  royal  cause,  the  prospect 
of  future  loyalty  which  might  result  from  clemency 
judiciously  bestowed,  considerations  of  public  wel- 
fare, dependent  upon  the  preservation  of  an  indus- 
trious people,  afforded  no  exemption  from  the  inex- 
orable decree  of  destruction,  enforced  with  every  cir- 
cumstance of  savage  malignity.     The  tracking  of 


298  History  of  the 

fugitive  Moriscoes  was  as  exciting  and  far  more 
profitable  than  the  chase  of  wild  beasts.  It  was  no 
unusual  occurrence  for  a  party  of  these  terrified 
wretches  to  be  pursued  for  a  distance  of  fifty  miles. 
No  obstacles  were  sufficient  to  deter  the  Spaniards  in 
the  tireless  search  for  their  prey;  the  more  arduous 
the  hardships  undergone,  the  greater  the  enjoyment 
when  the  victims,  vainly  suppliant  for  mercy,  were  put 
to  the  sword  or  burned  at  the  stake.  This  time  no 
organized  enemy  was  left  in  the  Alpujarras  to  disturb 
in  future  the  peace  of  the  monarchy.  More  than  ten 
thousand  insurgents  were  murdered  or  enslaved  in  the 
space  of  a  month.  Wherever  the  soldiery  could  pene- 
trate, every  vestige  of  human  life  and  artificial  vege- 
tation were  alike  swept  away.  The  terraced  slopes  of 
the  mountains,  reclaimed  by  infinite  toil  to  profitable 
culture,  the  once  smiling  and  fertile  valleys,  were  re- 
stored to  their  native  wildness.  No  voice  remained  in 
that  infinite  solitude  to  dispute  the  dogmas  of  ihe 
Chiu-ch  or  to  ofi^end  the  scruples  of  the  orthodox  by 
the  celebration  of  the  profane  and  detested  rites  of 
Islam. 

In  the  Serrania  de  Ronda  the  rebels  still  continued 
active,  but  the  ambition  of  rival  chieftains  aiming  at 
supreme  power  frustrated  each  other's  plans  and 
eventually  caused  the  discomfiture  of  all.  The  repu- 
tation for  valor  which  the  mountaineers  of  Ronda  had 
attained  was  national;  military  operations  in  that 
locality  were  not  prosecuted  wiiii  the  same  energy  as 
elsewhere,  but  the  irreconcilable  spirit  of  faction,  ever 
so  fatal  to  the  progress  and  stability  of  the  Arab  race, 
again  interposed  as  a  potent  factor  of  disorganization. 
A  sharp  campaign  directed  by  the  Duke  of  Arcos 
scattered  the  forces  of  the  rebels,  and  the  Serrania  de 
Ronda,  while  not  actually  conquered,  no  longer  con- 
tained a  force  capable  of  even  temporary  resistance. 

The  war  now  substantially  ended,  it  was  announced 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  299 

by  royal  proclamation  that  every  Morisco,  without  a 
single  exception,  should  be  forever  expelled  from  the 
kingdom  of  Granada.  The  order  was  carried  out  to 
the  letter,  under  the  supervision  of  Don  John  of  Aus- 
tria. The  number  of  the  exiles  was  from  fifty  to  a 
hundred  thousand.  Superior  discipline  and  the  per- 
sonal attention  of  the  prince  prevented  the  horrors  that 
had  attended  the  banishment  of  the  residents  of  the 
Albaycin.  Some  were  sent  to  Seville  and  Murcia, 
others  to  Estremadura,  La  Mancha,  and  Navarre. 
The  Castilian  peasantry  resented  their  appearance 
^ui^oi^g  good  Christians  and  resisted  the  soldiers,  whose 
presence  alone  prevented  a  massacre.  As  usual,  the 
lands  which  the  Moriscoes  possessed  were  seized  for 
the  benefit  of  the  crown;  their  personal  property  was 
sacrificed  for  much  less  than  its  value,  and  many  hith- 
erto accustomed  to  luxury,  plimdered  of  the  little  they 
had  saved  from  Spanish  rapacity,  reached  their  new 
homes  in  a  state  of  absolute  destitution.  The  remote 
fastnesses  of  the  Alpuj  arras  still  concealed  a  number 
of  fugitives,  who  cherished  the  fallacious  hope  that 
amidst  the  rejoicings  incident  to  victory  they  might 
remain  unnoticed  and  forgotten.  Among  them  was 
Ibn-Abu,  whose  followers,  the  infamous  monfis,  alike 
inaccessible  to  honor  or  pity,  were  ready  for  every  act 
of  treachery,  and  some  of  whom  had  already  discussed 
the  expediency  of  obtaining  pardon  by  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Ejng.  These  homeless  wanderers  soon  realized 
that  they  were  still  the  objects  of  Spanish  animosity. 
The  establishment  of  regular  garrisons  and  the  dis- 
banding of  the  rest  of  the  army  were  coincident  with 
the  formation  of  bands  of  scouts,  whose  duty  it  was 
to  scour  the  country  and  captm-e  every  Morisco  that 
could  be  found.  In  order  to  stimulate  their  activity,  a 
reward  of  twenty  ducats  was  offered  for  each  insur- 
gent. The  chase  of  Moriscoes  now  became  a  more 
lucrative  diversion  than  ever.    The  wildest  portion  of 


800  History  of  the 

the  sierra  was  examined  foot  by  foot.  Large  numbers 
of  fugitives  were  taken,  and  tiie  prisons  soon  became 
too  small  to  contain  the  multitudes  that  crowded  them 
to  suffocation.  The  utmost  diligence  of  the  authori- 
ties was  unequal  to  the  task  of  providing  quarters  for 
the  new-comers,  even  by  the  wholesale  execution  of  the 
old.  The  most  distinguished  prisoners  were  hung. 
Others  were  tortured.  Many  were  handed  over  to  the 
Inquisition,  which,  while  never  unsupplied  with  vic- 
tims, was  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  make  a  signal 
example  of  such  troublesome  heretics.  The  majority 
were  condenmed  to  the  galleys,  which,  all  things  being 
taken  into  accoimt,  was  perhaps  the  most  severe  pun- 
ishment that  a  prisoner  could  undergo.  To  be  consid- 
ered a  mere  machine,  almost  without  identity  and  des- 
titute of  feeling,  chained  for  days  to  the  oar,  exposed 
alike  to  the  binning  sun  and  the  tempest,  subject  to 
hourly  laceration  by  the  scourge  of  a  brutal  overseer; 
ill-fed  and  unprotected  from  the  weapons  of  an 
enemy,  no  fate  to  which  imf ortunate  humanity  is  liable 
would  not  seem  preferable  to  the  lot  of  the  galley- 
slave.  Finally,  the  available  facilities  of  Granada 
proved  totally  inadequate  for  the  disposition  of  captive 
Moriscoes;  extraordinary  powers  were  conferred  upon 
the  commanders  of  the  fortresses  and  outposts;  the 
scenes  of  carnage  were  transferred  from  the  capital 
to  every  accessible  point  of  the  Alpuj  arras,  and  the 
objects  of  national  hatred  and  intolerance  daily  paid 
by  hundreds  the  extreme  penalty  of  misfortune  and 
defeat. 

The  capture  or  death  of  Ibn-Abu  now  alone  was 
necessary  for  the  full  gratification  of  Christian  ven- 
geance. With  trifling  diflSculty  Gonzalo-al-Seniz, 
who  enjoyed  his  confidence  and  had  shared  his  tent, 
was  persuaded  to  betray  him.  The  rewards  of  treach- 
ery were  definitely  stipulated  in  advance,  the  principal 
inducements  being  a  pension  of  a  himdred  thousand 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eueope  801 

maravedis  and  a  promise  of  amnesty.  An  attempt  to 
take  the  mifortmiate  prince  alive  failed  of  success; 
he  was  killed  in  the  struggle;  of  his  faithful  compan- 
ions, some  were  cut  to  pieces,  some  implored  the  doubt- 
ful clemency  of  the  Christians,  and  others,  after  many 
perilous  adventures,  succeeded  in  escaping  to  Africa. 
The  body  of  the  Morisco  king,  strapped  like  a  bale  of 
goods  upon  a  beast  of  burden,  was  transported  to 
Granada  and  deposited  at  the  door  of  the  municipal 
palace.  Then  preparations  were  made  for  a  ceremony 
unparallelled  in  the  history  of  civilized  nations,  and 
whose  character  shows  to  what  a  depth  the  base  de- 
scendants of  Castilian  chivalry  had  fallen.  Procla- 
mation was  issued  for  the  celebration  of  a  travesty  of 
regal  authority  and  the  offer  of  a  public  insult  to  the 
dead.  At  the  appointed  time  a  vast  multitude  of  peo- 
ple, attracted  by  the  novelty  of  the  spectacle  from 
every  comer  of  the  city  and  for  a  distance  of  many 
leagues  around,  crowded  the  streets  and  squares  of  the 
picturesque  old  Moorish  capital.  The  line  of  march 
led  from  the  Plaza  de  la  Bab-al-Rambla  to  the  foot  of 
the  Alhambra  hill,  a  route  which  in  the  glorious  days 
of  the  emirs  had  been  the  scene  of  many  a  martial 
triumph.  The  procession  was  headed  by  the  corpse  of 
Ibn-Abu,  held  erect  by  a  concealed  wooden  frame- 
work, which  was  fastened  upon  the  back  of  a  mule. 
To  insure  its  preservation,  the  body  had  been  opened, 
the  viscera  extracted,  and  the  cavity  filled  with  salt;  it 
was  dressed  in  the  scarlet  and  gold  habiliments  of  roy- 
alty; uponitshead  was  the  turban  of  the  khalifs;  the 
face  was  uncovered,  and  the  pallid,  ghastly  features 
seemed,  in  their  fixed  and  mournful  expression,  to 
gaze  reproachfully  upon  the  jeering  throng.  By  the 
side  of  the  mule  walked  the  traitor  Gonzalo-al-Seniz, 
bearing  the  splendid  arms  of  the  king  he  had  betrayed, 
a  cross-bow  and  a  scimetar  embossed  and  damascened 
with  gold.    In  the  rear  marched  a  company  of  Moris- 


802  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

coes,  exempted  from  the  general  proscription  for  par- 
ticipation in  this  ceremony,  laden  with  the  personal 
effects  and  the  baggage  of  the  Moslem  prince.  A 
numerous  escort  of  arquebusiers  enclosed  the  cortege, 
which  was  received  with  becoming  pomp  by  the  cap- 
tain-general and  all  the  military  and  civil  function- 
aries of  the  kingdom.  As  6onzalo-al-Seniz  delivered 
to  the  Duke  of  Arcos  the  glittering  weapons  which  he 
carried,  he  remarked  in  the  figurative  language  of  the 
Orient,  "  The  shepherd  could  not  bring  the  sheep 
alive,  but  he  has  brought  the  fleece/'  In  the  presence 
of  the  assembled  dignitaries  of  the  realm  the  head  of 
Ibn-Abu  was  cut  off,  and  afterwards,  placed  in  an 
iron  cage,  was  fixed  upon  the  battlements  of  the  gate 
of  Bab-al-Racha,  which  faced  the  Alpujarras.  The 
trunk  was  abandoned  to  a  mob  of  children,  who 
amused  themselves  by  hacking  and  disfiguring  it  until, 
wearied  of  this  extraordinary  pastime,  they  consumed 
it  in  a  bonfire. 

Such  was  the  unworthy  fate  of  the  last  of  the  impe- 
rial line  of  the  Ommeyades.  Eight  hundred  years 
before,  Abd-al-Rahman,  hunted  like  a  wild  animal 
through  the  Libyan  Desert,  had  been  summoned  from 
a  life  of  obscurity  and  danger  to  found  a  great  and 
powerful  empire.  Although  it  rapidly  reached  its 
meridian,  that  empire  required  many  centuries  for  its 
final  overthrow.  The  proud  dynasty  of  the  Western 
Khalif  ate  ended  as  it  had  begun,  in  proscription,  in 
exile,  in  treachery,  in  violence.  The  causes  which 
hastened  its  maturity  also  contributed  largely  to  its 
decay.  The  aspirations  of  its  sovereigns  were,  on  the 
main,  noble  and  generous.  Their  services  to  humanity 
were  of  incalculable  value  and  of  far-reaching  effect. 
The  fire  and  sword  of  tyranny  and  persecution  could 
not  efface  the  lasting  impression  made  by  the  ideas 
they  promulgated,  the  science  they  developed,  the  lit- 
eratiu*e  they  created.    These  survived  the  tortures  of 


*"  Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  808 

the  Inquisition,  the  anathemas  of  the  Pope,  the  tur- 
moil of  revolution,  the  funeral  pyres  of  Ximenes.  It 
is  a  remarkable  fact  that  while  the  Hispano- Arabs 
brought  within  the  sphere  of  their  influence  and  cul- 
ture the  most  remote  nations,  their  nearest  neighbors 
were  incapable  of  appreciating  their  attainments  or 
profiting  by  their  knowledge.  The  inveterate  preju- 
dice against  every  phase  of  Moorish  life  and  manners 
entertained  by  tiie  Spanish  Christians  was  fatal  to 
their  intellectual  development.  They  regarded  the  in- 
truders as  barbarians,  as,  indeed,  the  majority  of  their 
descendants  do  even  to  this  day.  They  were  brought 
in  intimate  contact  with  no  other  form  of  civilization, 
and,  rather  than  adopt  what  their  ignorance  and  fanat- 
icism prompted  them  to  detest  and  despise,  they  chose 
to  rely  on  their  own  limited  resources.  In  consequence, 
their  mental  and  social  condition,  so  far  from  im- 
proving, gradually  retrograded.  The  Goths  of  the 
age  of  Roderick  were  more  polished,  more  intelligent, 
actuated  by  better  motives,  capable  of  higher  aspira- 
tions, susceptible  to  nobler  impulses  than  the  Span- 
iards governed  by  Charles  and  Philip.  In  their  prog- 
ress from  the  banks  of  the  Vistula  to  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean,  they  had  encountered  many  nations 
long  subject  to  the  civilizing  influence  of  Rome.  Not 
a  few  of  them  had  visited  the  Eternal  City  itself. 
Some  had  served  in  the  armies  of  the  decaying  empire ; 
all  had  been  impressed  by  the  grand  and  imposing 
monuments  of  its  magnificence  and  power.  In  the 
court  of  the  last  of  the  Grothic  kings  were  men  not 
unfamiliar  with  the  masterpieces  of  classic  literature. 
Its  publicists  had  framed  a  code  of  laws  which  is  the 
foundation  of  every  modem  system  of  jurisprudence. 
In  the  mechanical  arts  Gothic  skill  and  industry  had 
made  no  inconsiderable  progress.  While  feudalism 
had  retarded  the  development  of  society,  its  privileges, 
contrary  to  the  practice  of  subsequent  times,  had  not 


804  History  of  the 

as  yet  seriously  encroached  upon  the  dignity  and  pre- 
rogatives of  the  throne.  The  institution  of  councils 
under  ecclesiastical  influence  was  not  entirely  subser- 
vient to  the  interests  of  superstition,  and  often  exer- 
cised a  wholesome  check  upon  the  arbitrary  designs  of 
a  tyrannical  sovereign. 

With  the  Spaniards  of  the  sixteenth  centiny,  every- 
thing was  subordinated  to  a  single  principle,  the  exal- 
tation of  the  Church.  Its  servants  were  the  chosen 
confidants  of  the  monarch ;  its  policy  guided  his  move- 
ments, controlled  his  actions,  furnished  his  ideas,  in- 
flamed his  prejudices.  Whatever  was  worthy  of  the 
name  of  learning  the  clergy  monopolized  and  per- 
verted. They  diligently  fostered  the  ignorance  of  the 
masses,  imtil  in  all  the  continent  of  Europe  there  is 
not  at  the  present  time  a  more  benighted  class  than  the 
peasantry  of  the  Spanish  Peninsula.  The  treasures 
of  the  world  were  lavished  with  unparalleled  prodigal- 
ity upon  religious  institutions  and  edifices.  A  tithe  of 
the  wealth  squandered  upon  these  vast  foundations, 
whose  history  is  tainted  with  scandal,  would  have  suf- 
ficed, imder  intelligent  direction,  to  have  transformed 
the  entire  country  into  a  garden  and  to  have  rendered 
Spain  one  of  the  richest  of  nations.  Ecclesiasticism 
promoted  crime  and  idleness  by  making  beggary  re- 
spectable, and  by  countenancing  the  indiscriminate  be- 
stowal of  alms  as  a  cardinal  virtue.  The  expulsion  of 
the  Jews  and  the  Moriscoes  were  acts  entirely  con- 
sistent with  the  general  scheme  of  its  polity.  They 
were  indispensable  for  the  realization  of  religious 
unity,  to  which  every  consideration  of  national  wel- 
fare, public  faith,  and  individual  probity  were  unhesi- 
tatingly sacrificed.  The  atrocities  which  accompanied 
these  violent  and  disastrous  measures  were  regarded 
as  peculiarly  meritorious  and  most  acceptable  to  an 
avenging  God.  Upon  such  insecure  foundations  was 
the   splendid  but  unsubstantial   fabric  of   Spanish 


Moorish  Emfib£  in  Eueofe  806 

greatness  erected.  A  sad  inheritance  has  descended 
to  the  progeny  of  those  stem  warriors  who  founded 
an  empire  on  tiie  wreck  of  civilization,  the  repudiation 
of  treaties,  and  the  obliteration  of  entire  races  from 
the  face  of  the  earth. 

The  war  which  had  effected  the  conquest  and  en- 
slavement of  the  Moriscoes  lasted  a  little  more  than 
three  years.  No  period  of  the  same  duration  in  the 
history  of  the  Peninsula  was  fraught  with  more  im- 
portant consequences.  The  Spaniards  lost  by  the  cas- 
ualties of  battle,  exposure,  and  disease  sixty  thousand 
men.  The  losses  of  the  Moors  were  much  greater; 
twenty  thousand  were  killed  with  arms  in  their  hands, 
but  no  account  has  survived  of  those  who  were  mas- 
sacred in  cold  blood.  The  expense  involved  in  the  de- 
struction of  the  most  useful  element  of  the  population 
appalled  the  corrupt  and  incompetent  financiers  of 
the  kingdom.  Extraordinary  and  unwise  fiscal  meth- 
ods, devised  to  remedy  the  evil,  only  rendered  it  more 
aggravated  and  desperate.  Repeated  campaigns  of 
desolation  had  turned  the  whole  country  into  a  waste. 
Not  only  was  the  material  wealth  annihilated,  but  the 
means  of  recuperation  were  forever  removed.  Under 
the  iron  hand  of  remorseless  persecution,  industry  had 
vanished.  In  vain  the  government  offered  alluring 
inducements  to  immigrants  and  colonists, — fertile 
lands,  moderate  rents,  nominal  taxation.  Few  ac- 
cepted these  offers  and  still  fewer  remained.  The 
provinces  of  the  South  continued  a  prey  to  the  bri- 
gands of  the  moimtains  and  the  corsairs  of  Barbary. 
Life  and  property  were  notoriously  insecure.  Cas- 
tilian  pride  and  indolence  were  unequal  to  the  patient 
drudgery  which  had  made  hill-side  and  valley  blossom 
with  teeming  vegetation;  and  men  whose  chosen  trade 
for  ages  had  been  war  were  wholly  destitute  of  the 
agricultural  experience  and  skill  necessary  to  repro- 
duce these  marvellous  effects.    The  royal  demesnes. 

Vol.  III.— 80 


806  History  op  the 

in  1592,  yielded  annually  a  sum  equal  to  fifteoi  thou- 
sand dollars ;  during  the  closing  years  of  Moslem  rule, 
when  the  kingdom  had  heen  exhausted  by  incessant 
war  and  rebellion,  tiie  revenues  from  this  source  pro- 
duced by  territory  of  equal  area  and  fertility  had  been 
more  than  ten  times  as  great,  Plimdered,  tortured, 
expatriated,  the  Moriscoes  were  still  subjected  to  in- 
numerable vexations;  the  curse  of  their  race  was  ever 
upon  them.  But  they  were  at  last  comparatively  ex- 
empt from  the  odious  imputation  of  heresy.  After 
1595  the  most  rigid  inquisitorial  vigilance  was  unable 
or  unwilling  to  detect  any  heterodox  opinions  or 
breaches  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  among  these  tm- 
promising  proselytes.  And  yet  it  was  notorious  that 
they  were  ignorant  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  and 
that  competent  persons  were  not  appomted  to  instruct 
them.  Some  zealots,  indeed,  maintained  that  they 
should  not  be  permitted  to  communicate,  and  that  the 
exposure  of  the  Host  in  their  churches  was  a  desecra- 
tion; others,  on  the  other  hand,  refused  absolution  to 
such  as  would  not  acknowledge  apostasy.  Their  con- 
fessions were  often  regarded  as  feigned,  and  the 
priests  who  received  them  did  not  hesitate  to  violate 
the  obligations  of  tiieir  order  by  divulging  privileged 
confidences  to  the  magistrate.  The  Morisco  could  not 
change  his  residence  without  permission;  he  was  not 
allowed  the  possession  of  arms;  the  approach  within 
forty  miles  of  the  kingdom  of  Granada  was  punish- 
able with  death.  Notwithstanding  these  severe  regu- 
lations, many  succeeded  in  evading  the  vigilance  of 
the  authorities.  Some  took  refuge  in  Valencia,  where 
the  feudal  lords  still  protected  their  bretiu-en;  others 
concealed  themselves  in  the  Alpujarras;  many  es- 
caped to  Africa.  In  their  new  homes  they  were  gen- 
erally treated  with  far  more  indulgence  than  in  the 
old.  Prelates  and  nobles  who  profited  by  their  in- 
dustry not  infrequently  interposed  their  influence  to 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  807 

prevent  persecution,  interested  officials  connived  at 
breaches  of  the  law,  and  it  was  a  common  occurrence 
for  the  alguazil  appointed  to  prevent  the  observance 
of  the  feast  of  Ramadhan  to  pass  his  time  carousing 
with  those  whom  it  was  his  office  to  restrain.  The 
condition  of  the  Moriscoes  was  also  rendered  less  in- 
tolerable by  the  secret  employment  of  both  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  dignitaries  of  high  rank  and  extensive 
influence,  at  a  regular  salary,  to  guard  their  rights 
and  frustrate  the  iniquitous  designs  of  their  enemies. 

The  once  flourishing  land  of  Granada  was  a  desert, 
but  the  demands  of  orthodox  Christianity  at  last  were 
satisfied.  The  devout  regarded  with  unconcealed  com- 
placency the  fertile  territory  formerly  rich  in  every 
variety  of  agricultural  products,  and  now  abandoned 
to  sterility,  but  which  was  deffled  no  longer  by  the 
contaminating  presence  of  the  heretic  and  the  infidel. 
But,  while  the  Faith  was  vindicated  by  the  expulsion 
of  these  objects  of  pious  detestation,  the  secret  of 
prosperity  had  departed  with  them.  The  imported 
colonists  were  imable,  under  new  and  unfamiliar  con- 
ditions and  heedless  of  the  frugality  and  patience 
which  insure  success,  to  render  their  undertakings 
profitable;  indeed,  most  of  them  could  hardly  exist. 
Their  taxes  had,  in  violation  of  contract  and  on  ac- 
count of  the  pressing  exigencies  of  the  state,  been 
gradually  increased;  the  demands  of  importunate 
creditors  and  tyrannical  officials  made  them  desper- 
ate; and  these  exactions,  which  exhausted  the  scanty 
returns  of  an  ill-conducted  cultivation,  kept  the  im- 
f  ortunate  immigrants  in  a  state  of  hopeless  penury. 
They  either  abandoned  their  farms  or  were  forcibly 
ejected,  and  in  1697  the  royal  estates  were  sold  because 
it  was  found  impossible  to  operate  them  at  a  profit. 

While  in  Granada  such  discouraging  conditions  pre- 
vailed, those  portions  of  the  kingdom  which  had  un- 
willingly received  the  banished  Moriscoes  experienced 


808  History  of  the 

the  beneficial  results  of  their  labors.  The  hitherto 
barren  regions  of  La  Mancha  and  Estremadura  began 
to  exhibit  signs  of  unexampled  fertility.  The  new 
settlers  were  peaceable,  f  rugal»  industrious.  In  Cas- 
tile they  were  generally  fanners;  in  Aragon,  mer- 
chants; in  Valencia,  manufacturers.  Not  a  few  at- 
tained great  distinction  in  the  practice  of  medicine  and 
surgery;  and,  like  the  Jews  of  former  ages,  they  were 
frequently  employed  by  the  court  and  the  family  of 
the  sovereign.  The  life  of  Philip  III.  when  a  child 
was  saved  by  the  skill  of  a  Moorish  physician,  a  service 
which  was  ill-requited  by  the  deeds  of  his  manhood. 
The  exiles  practically  contributed  the  f imds  which 
supported  the  monarchy.  The  insatiable  rapacity  of 
adventurers  had  soon  exhausted  the  available  wealth 
of  a  magnificent  colonial  empire.  Official  corruption 
constantly  drained  the  ordinary  sources  of  revenue. 
In  all  financial  difficulties  taxation  of  the  Moriscoes 
afi^orded  an  unfailing  and  profitable  means  of  replen- 
ishing the  treasury.  Their  burdens  were  first  doubled, 
then  quadrupled.  Every  species  of  imposition  was 
practised  upon  them.  Their  debtors  paid  them  in 
spurious  coin,  struck  for  their  benefit.  False  jewels 
were  pledged  with  them  for  loans.  The  chicanery  of 
the  law  was  employed  to  defraud  them  with  impunity, 
while  the  most  severe  penalties  were  infficted  upon 
them  for  trifling  breaches  of  trust.  They  were  sys- 
tematically swindled  by  cheats  and  usurers.  In  all 
possible  ways  they  were  made  to  feel  the  immerited 
degradation  of  their  caste  and  the  utter  hopelessness 
of  relief.  Yet  under  this  weight  of  malevolence  and 
injustice  they  prospered  and  preserved  at  least  the 
appearance  of  equanimity.  Nothing  could,  with 
truth,  be  alleged  against  their  morals.  They  were 
nominally  good  Christians.  They  attended  mass. 
They  conformed  to  the  customs  of  their  rulers,  wore 
their  dress,  participated  in  their  festivals,  spoke  Cas- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  809 

tilian.  Their  regular  and  temperate  lives  and  their 
buoyant  spirits  under  misfortune  promoted  extraor- 
dinary longevity.  It  was  by  no  means  unusual  to  en- 
coimter  individuals  whose  age  had  passed  the  limit  of 
a  century.  Early  marriages  and  polygamous  unions 
caused  the  population  to  increase  with  amazing 
rapidity.  The  census  taken  regularly  by  the  Moris- 
coes  to  ascertain  the  proportion  of  taxes  to  be  levied 
upon  them  and  to  insure  its  equitable  distribution 
demonstrated  conclusively  that  this  growth  was  in  a 
progressive  ratio  that  was  phenomenal  in  its  character. 
The  enumeration  made  at  Valencia  in  1602  show'ed  an 
increase  of  ten  thousand  in  three  years.  Modem  in- 
vestigation has  established  the  fact  that  a  population 
existing  imder  the  most  favorable  economic  conditions 
will  double  itself  every  twenty-five  years.  The  Moris- 
coes  were  far  exceeding  that  estimate,  for  their  ratie 
of  increase  was  triple.  This  wonderful  augmentation 
must  have  been  coincident  with  the  highest  degree  of 
prosperity,  otherwise  subsistence  could  not  have  been 
provided  for  the  multitudes  of  children.  This  con- 
dition was  not  peculiar  to  Valencia:  it  was  the  same 
in  Aragon,  in  Castile,  in  Estremadura,  in  Andalusia. 
The  Moors  who  had  failed  to  conquer  their  enemies 
by  arms  now  threatened  to  overwhelm  them  by  sheer 
force  of  numbers.  The  Spaniards,  not  being  suffi- 
ciently civilized  to  take  their  census  regularly  or  ac- 
curately, were  ignorant  of  the  numerical  strength  of 
their  own  population,  as  compared  with  that  of  their 
Moorish  subjects;  but  it  was  evident  that  there  was  a 
tremendous  preponderance  in  favor  of  the  latter. 

The  officials  became  so  alarmed  that  just  before  the 
death  of  Philip  II.  he  was  requested  to  prohibit  any 
further  eniuneration  of  the  Moriscoes,  because  it  ac- 
quainted them  with  their  power  and  must  eventually 
prove  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the  monarchy. 
Besides  their  menacing  increase,  which  no  supervision! 


810  History  of  the 

however  effective,  could  prevent,  they  possessed  quali- 
ties that  made  them  highly  obnoxious  to  their  masters. 
Their  frugality  and  thrift,  their  shrewdness  and  en- 
terprise, rendered  competition  with  them  impossible. 
There  was  no  profitable  occupation  in  which  they  did 
not  excel.  In  agriculture  they  had  no  rivals.  They 
monopolized  every  industrial  employment;  all  of  the 
most  useful  trades  were  under  their  control.  They 
undersold  the  Castihan  peasantry  in  their  own  mar- 
kets. Even  the  most  opulent,  instructed  by  previous 
experience,  sedulously  avoided  every  exhibition  of  lux- 
ury;  but  the  Moorish  artisan  had  not  lost  the  taste  and 
dexterity  of  his  ancestors,  and  the  splendid  products 
of  the  loom  and  the  armory  still  commanded  high 
prices  in  the  metropolitan  cities  of  Europe.  It  was 
known  that  the  Moriscoes  were  wealthy,  and  popular 
opinion,  as  is  invariably  the  case,  delighted  in  exag- 
gerating the  value  of  their  possessions.  While  they 
sold  much,  they  consumed  comparatively  little  and 
purchased  even  less.  Although  the  offence  of  heresy 
could  no  longer  be  consistently  imputed  to  them,  spe- 
cious considerations  of  public  policy,  as  well  as  defer- 
ence to  ineradicable  national  prejudice,  demanded 
their  suppression.  Their  prosperity,  secured  at  the 
expense  of  their  neighbors,  and  a  standing  reproach  to 
the  idleness  and  incapacity  of  the  latter,  was  the  meas- 
ure of  Spanish  decay.  In  the  existing  state  of  the 
public  mind,  and  under  the  direction  of  the  statesmai 
who  controlled  the  actions  of  the  King,  a  pretext  could 
readily  be  found  for  the  perpetration  of  any  injustice. 
The  Moriscoes  of  Valencia,  the  most  numerous, 
wealthy,  and  influential  body  of  their  race,  protected 
by  the  nobles,  had  always  shown  less  alacrity  in  the 
observance  of  the  duties  of  the  Church  than  their 
brethren,  and  had  thus  rendered  themselves  liable  to 
tiie  suspicion  of  apostasy.  It  was  declared  that  after 
^  generation  of  espionage,  prayer,  and  religious  in- 


Moorish  Emfibe  in  Europe  311 

struction  they  were  still  secret  Mussulmans.  This 
opinion,  perhaps  in  some  instances  not  without  foun- 
dation, amounted  to  absolute  certainty  in  the  narrow 
mind  of  Don  Juan  de  Bibera,  Archbishop  of  Valen- 
cia, a  prelate  of  vindictive  temper,  arbitrary  disposi- 
tion, limited  abilities,  and  violent  prejudices.  He 
owed  much  of  his  reputation  for  piety  to  the  fact  that 
he  had  denounced  to  the  Inquisition  more  than  four 
thousand  alleged  Moorish  apostates.  Knowing  his 
feelings  towards  them,  the  Moriscoes  generally  turned 
a  deaf  ear  to  his  admonitions  and  threats,  and  thus  fur- 
ther incurred  his  displeasure.  The  energy  of  Ribera 
was  incessantly  exerted  for  the  ruin  of  these  supposed 
heretics,  either  by  exile  or  by  extermination.  With 
this  end  in  view  he  addressed  several  memorials  to 
Philip  III.,  who  had  now  ascended  the  throne,  in 
which  the  objects  of  his  wrath  were  accused  of  every 
crime  against  the  dvil  and  the  moral  law, — ^treason, 
murder,  kidnapping,  blasphemy,  sacrilege.  In  these 
appeals  the  Moriscoes  were  called  "  the  sponge  that 
ab^rbed  the  riches  of  Spain."  He  enforced  his  argu- 
ments by  the  extraordinary  statement  that  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Armada  was  a  divine  judgment  for  the  in- 
dulgence exhibited  towards  these  enemies  of  the  Faith, 
and  that  Philip  II.  was  aware  of  it,  for  he  himself  had 
informed  him  of  that  fact  The  recent  occurrence  of 
earthquakes,  tempests,  and  comets  was  also  sagely  at- 
tributed to  the  same  cause.  The  Moriscoes  were  not 
ignorant  of  the  designs  which  the  Archbishop  was 
prosecuting  to  their  injury,  and  endeavored  to  obtain 
the  assistance  of  France  and  England,  both  of  whidi 
countries  were  then  hostile  to  Spain.  They  offered 
King  Henry  IV.  the  services  of  a  hundred  thousand 
weU-armed  soldiers  if  he  woidd  invade  the  Peninsula. 
The  Duke  of  Sully  says  they  even  signalized  their 
willingness  to  embrace  Protestantism  in  consideration 
of  support,  it  being  a  form  of  worship  not  tainted 


812  HlSTOEY  OF  THE 

with  idolatry,  like  that  of  Rome.  Negotiations  were 
privately  opened  with  the  courts  of  Paris  and  London, 
and  commissions  were  even  appointed  by  the  latter  to 
verify  the  claims  of  the  Moriscoes;  but  no  conclusion 
was  arrived  at,  and  the  plot  was  eventually  betrayed 
by  the  very  sovereigns  whose  honor  was  pledged  to  the 
maintenance  of  secrecy.  An  embassy  was  also  sent  to 
the  Sultan  of  Turkey  by  the  Moors,  soliciting  his  aid 
and  tendering  him  tiieir  allegiance.  No  plan  which 
promised  relief  was  neglected.  The  furious  Ribera 
again  urged  upon  the  King  the  dangers  that  the  tol- 
eration of  such  a  numerous  and  perfidious  people  im- 
plied; he  alleged  their  prosperity  and  their  superior 
intelligence  as  crimes  against  the  state;  and  as  abso- 
lute extermination  did  not  seem  to  be  feasible,  he  sug- 
gested expulsion  as  of  greater  inconvenience,  but  of 
equal  efficacy.  Once  more  the  nobles  interposed  in 
behalf  of  their  vassals,  and  while  the  King  was  hesi- 
tating the  Moriscoes  endeavored  to  anticipate  his  de- 
cision by  the  formation  of  an  extensive  conspiracy. 
Again  tiiey  were  betrayed,  this  time  by  one  of  their 
own  number.  Public  opinion,  aroused  by  these  oc- 
currences, and  further  inflamed  by  ecclesiastical  malice 
and  by  the  pernicious  influence  of  the  Duke  of  Lerma, 
the  all-powerful  minister  of  Philip  III.,  now  impera- 
tively demanded  their  banishment.  This  nobleman, 
of  base  antecedents  and  unprincipled  character,  and 
whose  dominating  passion  was  avarice,  was  Viceroy 
of  Valencia.  His  brother  was  the  Grand  Inquisitor 
Their  influence  easily  overweighed  the  remonstrances 
of  the  Pope,  whose  voice  was  raised  on  the  side  of 
mercy. 

On  the  fourth  of  August,  1609,  the  royal  decree 
which  announced  the  fate  of  the  Moriscoes  of  Valen- 
cia was  signed  at  Segovia.  No  precaution  which  pru- 
dence could  suggest  was  neglected  to  prevent  disaster 
consequent  upon  its  enforcement.     Great  bodies  of 


MooBiSH  Empiee  in  Eubope  818 

troops  were  placed  under  anns.  The  frontiers  of  the 
kingdom  were  patrolled  by  cavalry.  Seventy-seven 
ships  of  war,  the  largest  m  the  navy,  were  assembled 
on  the  coast.  In  every  town  the  garrison  was  doubled. 
Several  thousand  veterans  disembarked  from  the  fleet 
and  were  distributed  at  those  points  where  the  Morisco 
population  was  most  niunerous.  Such  preparations 
left  no  alternative  but  submission,  and  the  Valencians, 
anticipating  the  final  movement  which  would  deliver 
the  unhappy  Moors  into  their  hands,  began  to  rob  and 
persecute  them  without  pity.  Even  after  all  had  been 
arranged  for  the  removal,  the  nobles  urged  Philip  to 
revoke  an  order  which  must  cause  incalculable  injury 
to  his  kingdom.  The  most  solemn  and  binding  guar- 
antees were  offered  for  the  public  safety  and  for  the 
peaceable  behavior  of  the  Moriscoes.  It  was  demon- 
strated that  the  manufacturing  and  agricultural  inter- 
ests of  the  entire  monarchy  were  involved ;  that  a  pop- 
ulation of  a  million  souls,  whose  industry  represented 
of  itself  a  source  of  wealth  which  could  not  be  re- 
placed, would  be  practically  exterminated;  that  the 
educational  and  religious  foundations  of  the  realm 
alone  received  from  Moorish  tributaries  an  annual 
sum  exceeding  a  million  doubloons  of  gold.  It  was 
also  shown  that  the  vassals  of  the  Valencian  nobles 
paid  them  each  year  four  million  ducats,  nearly  thirty- 
two  million  dollars.  The  alleged  conspiracies  were 
imputed  to  the  malice  of  the  monks,  who  invented 
them  in  the  cloister;  the  heresies  to  ignorance  of  the 
clergy,  too  idle  or  too  negligent  to  afford  their  par- 
ishioners instruction.  The  evil  results  of  the  iniquitous 
decree  had  already  begun  to  manifest  themselves. 
The  cultivation  of  the  soil  had  almost  ceased.  The 
markets  were  deserted.  Conmaerce  languished,  and 
the  Moriscoes,  to  avoid  the  insults  of  the  populace  to 
which  they  were  now  subjected,  only  appeared  in  the 
streets  when  impelled  to  do  so  by  absolute  necessity. 


814  History  of  the 

The  Archiepiscopal  See  of  Valencia,  which  derived  its 
revenues  ahnost  entirely  from  Morisco  taxation,  was 
threatened  with  bankruptcy,  and  Don  Juan  de  Bibera, 
realizing  when  too  late  the  disastrous  consequences  of 
the  project  he  had  so  sedulously  advocated,  now  in 
vain  endeavored  to  stem  the  tide  of  public  bigotry  and 
official  madness.  While  bewailing  his  unhappy  con- 
dition to  his  clerical  subordinates,  he  was  heard  to 
plaintively  remark,  "  My  brethren,  hereafter  we  shall 
be  compelled  to  live  upon  herbs  and  to  mend  our  own 
shoes." 

Philip  refused  to  reconsider  his  determination,  and 
the  nobilily  manifested  their  loyalty  by  the  unflinching 
support  of  a  measure  running  directly  counter  to  their 
interests.  On  the  twenty-second  of  September,  1609, 
the  edict  of  expulsion  was  proclaimed  by  heralds 
throughout  the  kingdom  of  Valencia.  It  represented 
that  by  a  special  act  of  royal  clemency  "  the  heretics, 
apostates,  traitors,  criminals  guilty  of  Use-majestS 
human  and  divine,"  were  punished  with  exile  rather 
than  with  death,  to  which  the  strict  construction  of  the 
laws  condemned  them.  It  permitted  the  removal  of 
such  efPects  as  could  be  carried,  and  as  much  of  their 
harvests  as  was  necessary  for  subsistence  during  their 
joiuney ;  all  else  was  to  be  forfeited  to  their  suzerains. 
They  were  forbidden  to  sell  their  lands  or  houses. 
Three  days  of  preparation  were  granted;  after  that 
they  were  declared  the  legitimate  prey  of  every  as- 
sailant. Dire  penalties  were  denounced  against  all 
who  should  conceal  them  or  in  any  way  assist  in  the 
evasion  of  the  edict.  Those  who  had  intermarried  with 
Christians  could  remain,  if  they  desired;  and  six  per 
cent,  of  the  families  were  to  be  reserved  by  the  lords, 
that  the  horticultural  and  mechanical  dexterity  which 
had  enriched  the  coimtry  might  not  be  absolutely  ex- 
tinguished.    These  subjects  of  interested  clemency 


MoosisH  Empise  in  Europe  815 

refused  to  accept  this  invidious  concession,  however, 
and  hastened  to  join  their  countrjrmen  heyond  the  sea. 

The  wretched  Moriscoes  received  the  tidings  of  their 
expatriation  with  ahnost  the  despair  with  which  they 
would  have  listened  to  a  sentence  of  death.  Astonish- 
ment, arising  from  the  suddenness  of  the  notice  and 
the  inadequate  time  allotted  them  for  preparation,  was 
mingled  with  their  dismay.  The  traditions  of  cen- 
turies, the  souvenirs  of  national  glory,  the  memory  of 
their  ancestors,  contributed  to  endear  them  to  tiieir 
native  land.  There  were  centred  the  most  cherished 
associations  of  a  numerous  and  cultivated  race.  All 
aroxmd  were  the  visible  signs  of  thrift  and  opulence 
and  their  results,  won  by  laborious  exertion  from  the 
soil.  The  disfigured  but  still  magnificent  monuments 
of  fallen  dynasties  recalled  the  departed  glory  of 
Arab  genius  and  Moslem  power.  The  loss*  of  their 
wealth,  the  sacrifice  of  their  possessions,  portended 
the  endurance  of  calamities  for  which  they  were  ill- 
prepared,  and  of  whose  dreadful  character  their  most 
gloomy  apprehensions  could  convey  no  adequate  con- 
ception. 

In  every  Moorish  community  appeared  the  signs  of 
unutterable  misery  and  woe.  The  shrieks  of  frenzied 
women  pierced  the  air.  Old  men  sobbed  upon  the 
hearthstones  where  had  been  passed  the  happy  days  of 
infancy  and  youth.  Overcome  with  grief,  life-long 
friends  met  in  the  streets  without  notice  or  salutation. 
Even  little  children,  unable  to  comprehend,  yet  awed 
by  the  prevailing  sorrow,  ceased  their  play  to  mingle 
their  tears  with  those  of  their  parents. 

As  the  disconsolate  and  sobbing  multitude,  urged 
on  by  the  ferocious  soldiery  taught  by  their  religion 
to  regard  these  victims  of  national  prejudice  as  the 
enemies  of  Christ,  left  their  homes  behind  forever, 
their  trials  and  sufferings  increased  with  their  prog- 
ress.    The  government  provided  them  with  neither 


816  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

food,  shelter,  nor  transportation.  The  difficulties  of 
the  march  were  aggravated  by  clouds  of  dust  and  by 
the  pitiless  heat  of  summer.  Many  were  bom  on  the 
highway.  Great  numbers  fell  from  exhaustion. 
Some,  in  desperation,  committed  suicide.  Every 
straggler  was  butchered  by  the  armed  rabble  which, 
equally  ravenous  for  plunder  or  blood,  constantly 
hung  on  the  flanks  of  the  slowly  moving  column. 
Many  were  assassinated  by  Old  Christians,  men  of 
Moorish  ancestry,  the  conversion  of  whose  forefathers 
dated  before  the  Conquest,  and  who  told  their  beads 
and  muttered  prayers  after  each  murder,  as  if  they 
had  conunitted  an  action  acceptable  to  God.  The 
armed  brigands  who  composed  the  escort  vied  with  the 
mob  in  their  atrocities.  The  men  were  openly  killed, 
the  women  violated.  Their  property  was  appropriated 
by  force.  Some  died  of  hunger.  Parents,  in  their 
extremity,  became  so  oblivious  of  the  instincts  of 
nature  as  to  barter  their  children  for  a  morsel  of  bread. 
When  they  embarked  for  Africa  they  fared  even 
worse  than  they  had  done  on  land.  On  tiie  sea  the  op- 
portunities for  outrage  were  multipUed,  the  means  of 
escape  and  detection  diminished.  No  pen  can  portray 
the  horrors  visited  upon  the  unhappy  Moriscoes,  help- 
less in  the  midst  of  savage  enemies  who  were  insen- 
sible to  pity,  hardened  by  cruelty,  and  dominated  by 
the  furious  lust  of  beauty  and  gold. 

The  decree  was  not  received  everywhere  with  the 
same  submission  as  at  the  city  of  Valencia.  There  the 
exiles,  overawed  by  the  large  military  force,  yielded 
without  disturbance.  Half -crazed  by  misfortune, 
they  even  feigned  exultation,  marched  on  board  the 
ships  dressed  in  holiday  costume  and  headed  by  bands 
of  music,  and  in  token  of  delight  gave  themselves  up 
to  the  most  extravagant  exhibitions  of  joy.  Some 
kissed  the  shore,  others  plunged  into  the  sea,  others 
again  quaffed  the  briny  water  as  if  it  were  a  delicious 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  817 

beverage.  Before  embarking  they  sold  much  of  their 
property,  and  articles  of  great  elegance  and  beauty — 
curiously  wrought  vessels  of  gold  and  enamel,  silken 
veils  embroidered  with  silver,  magnificent  garments — 
were  disposed  of  for  a  small  fraction  of  their  value. 
During  these  transactions,  and  in  settlement  of  their 
passage  to  Africa,  the  Moriscoes  succeeded  in  placing 
in  circulation  an  immense  amoimt  of  counterfeit 
money  which  they  had  obtained  in  Catalonia,  thus  lit- 
erally paying  the  Spaniards  in  their  own  coin.  The 
portable  wealth  of  which  the  kingdom  was  deprived 
by  their  banishment  cannot  be  estimated.  It 
amounted,  however,  to  many  millions  of  ducats. 
Some  of  the  exiles  were  known  to  possess  a  hundred 
thousand  pieces  of  gold,  an  enormous  fortune  in  those 
times.  It  was  ascertained  after  their  departure  that 
their  lords,  in  defiance  of  law,  had  purchased  many  of 
their  estates,  and  had  connived  at  the  sale  or  conceal- 
ment of  a  great  amount  of  their  personal  property. 
Those  who  succeeded  in  reaching  the  cities  were  re- 
ceived with  courteous  hospitality,  but  the  desert  tribes 
showed  scant  mercy  to  the  multitudes  that  fell  into 
their  hands. 

Elsewhere  in  the  kingdom  the  Moriscoes  stubbornly 
resisted  the  decree  of  expatriation.  The  Sierra  de 
Bemia  and  the  Vale  of  Alahuar  were  the  scene  of 
the  most  serious  disturbances,  and  at  one  time  twenty 
thousand  insurgents  were  in  the  field.  Armed  for  the 
most  part  with  clubs,  their  valor  was  ineffectual  in  the 
presence  of  veteran  troops.  The  women  alone  were 
spared;  the  men  were  butchered;  the  brains  of  chil- 
dren were  beaten  out  against  the  walls.  The  garrison 
of  the  castle  of  Pop,  which  for  a  few  weeks  defied  the 
Spanish  army,  alone  obtained  advantageous  terms. 
Of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  Moors  exiled 
from  Valencia,  at  least  two-thirds  perished.  A  large 
number  had  previously  succumbed  to  persecution  or 


818  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

had  escaped,  and  including  these  the  total  number  of 
victims  of  the  inauguration  of  the  insane  policy  of 
Philip  III.  was  at  least  two  hundred  thousand.  The 
continuance  of  that  policy  until  its  aim  had  been  fully 
accomplished  had  already  been  determined  on  by  the 
councillors  of  the  King.  The  secrecy  which  concealed 
their  design  did  not  impose  upon  those  who  were  the 
objects  of  it.  They  began  by  tens  of  thousands  to 
emigrate  quietly  to  Africa.  Then  the  decree,  which 
had  been  signed  a  month  before,  was  published,  with 
an  attempt  to  give  the  impression  that  it  had  been  pro- 
voked by  a  circumstance  of  which  it  was  really  the 
cause,  namely,  the  agitation  of  the  Moriscoes.  The 
latter  were  peremptorily  conunanded  to  leave  the  king- 
dom within  eight  days.  They  were  forbidden  to  take 
with  them  money,  gold,  jewels,  bills  of  exchange,  or 
merchandise.  They  were  not  permitted  to  dispose  of 
their  estates.  In  Catalonia  their  property  was  confis- 
cated, "  in  satisfaction  of  debts  which  they  might  have 
owed  to  Christians,"  and  three  days  only  were  allowed 
them  in  which  to  prepare  for  departure.  Their  little 
children  were  to  be  left  behind  to  the  tender  mercies  of 
their  oppressors,  in  order  that  their  salvation  might 
be  assured.  Those  of  the  northern  provinces  were 
prohibited  from  moving  southward;  those  of  Anda- 
lusia were  directed  to  emigrate  by  sea.  Within  the 
allotted  time  all  were  in  motion.  The  embarkation  of 
the  exiles  destined  for  Africa  was  effected  without 
difficulty.  But  their  brethren  of  Castile  and  Aragon 
were  refused  admission  into  France,  by  the  direct 
order  of  Henry  IV.,  to  whose  agency  was  largely  at- 
tributable their  deplorable  condition.  His  opportune 
death  somewhat  relaxed  official  severity,  and  a  great 
number  entered  Provence.  Although  they  were 
peaceable  and  inoffensive,  the  French  were  anxious  to 
be  rid  of  their  imwelcome  guests.  Free  transportation 
was  furnished  them  by  the  city  of  Marseilles,  and  they 


MooEiSH  Empibe  in  Eueope  819 

Mrere  distributed  through  Turkey,  Italy,  and  Africa. 
So  many  died  during  the  passage  by  sea  that  their  dead 
bodies  encumbered  the  b^dh,  and  the  peasants  refused 
for  a  long  time  to  eat  fish,  declaring  that  it  had  the 
taste  of  human  flesh.  The  progress  of  the  unfortu- 
nates driven  northward  was  marked  by  daily  scenes 
of  persecution  and  agony.  The  commissioners  ap- 
pointed to  supervise  the  emigration  connived  at  the 
evasion  of  the  decree  for  their  own  profit.  They  ex- 
torted enormous  sums  for  protection,  which  their  duty 
required  them  to  afford  without  compensation,  and 
which,  even  after  these  impositions,  was  insolently  de- 
nied. Those  things  which  the  ordinary  dictates  of 
humanity  delight  to  bestow  were  sold  to  the  hapless 
wanderers  at  fabulous  prices.  For  the  shade  of  the 
trees  on  the  highway  the  grasping  and  imprincipled 
peasant  exacted  a  rental;  and  the  water  dipped  from 
the  streams  in  the  trembling  hands  of  the  sufferers 
commanded  a  higher  price  than  that  usually  paid  for 
the  wine  of  the  coimtry.  The  little  which  the  conmiis- 
sioners  overlooked  was  seized  by  rapacious  French 
officials,  and  the  condition  of  the  Moriscoes  was  still 
further  aggravated  by  the  absconding  of  those  of  their 
number  to  whom  the  common  purse  had  been  in- 
trusted. 

In  the  mercUess  proscription  thus  imposed  upon  an 
entire  people,  an  insignificant  number  temporarily 
escaped.  In  the  latter  were  included  yoimg  children 
torn  from  their  parents  to  be  educated  by  the  Chin-ch, 
and  such  persons  "  of  good  life  and  religion"  as  the 
clergy,  through  interested  or  generous  motives,  chose 
to  recommend  to  royal  indulgence.  In  1611  the  ex- 
emption enjoyed  by  these  classes  was  removed; 
searching  inquiry  was  instituted  throughout  the  king- 
dom, and  every  individual  of  Moorish  blood  who  could 
be  discovered  was  inexorably  condemned  to  banish- 
ment or  slavery.    By  the  persecution  of  the  Moriscoes 


n 


820  History  of  the 

and  the  losses  by  war,  assassination,  voluntary  emigra- 
tion, and  enforced  exile,  Spain  was  deprived  of  the 
services  of  more  than  a  million  of  the  most  intelligent, 
laborious,  and  skilful  subjects  in  Christendom.  Those 
who  were  finally  excluded  were  probably  not  more 
than  half  of  the  entire  Mooridi  population.  No  sta- 
tistics are  accessible  in  our  day  from  whidb  an  estimate 
can  be  formed  of  the  vast  number  that  perished  by 
famine,  by  torture,  by  massacre.  Their  trials  were 
not  at  an  end  even  in  Africa;  they  were  pursued  for 
sectarian  differences,  and  some  who  were  sincere 
Christians  returned  to  Spain,  where  they  were  at  once 
sentenced  to  the  galleys.  The  skill  and  thrift  of  the 
Moriscoes,  qualities  which  should  have  made  them  de- 
sirable, rendered  them  everywhere  unpopular;  they 
monopolized  the  trade  of  the  ^arbary  coast,  even 
driving  out  the  Jews;  in  Algiers  the  populace  rose 
against  them,  all  were  expelled,  and  large  numbers 
were  remorselessly  butchered.  Hatred  of  their  op- 
pressors induced  many  of  hitherto  peaceful  occupa- 
tions to  embrace  the  trade  of  piracy,  and  the  southern 
coast  of  the  Peninsula  had  reason  to  long  remember 
the  exploits  of  the  Morisco  corsairs. 

The  ruthless  barbarity,  the  blind  and  reckless  folly 
of  this  measure,  was  followed  by  an  everlasting  curse 
of  barrenness,  ignorance,  and  penury.  The  sudden 
removal  of  enormous  amounts  of  portable  wealth  de- 
ranged every  kind  of  trade.  The  circulation  of  coun- 
terfeit money  impaired  public  confidence.  In  Valen- 
cia four  hundred  and  fifty  viUages  were  abandoned. 
The  absence  of  the  most  industrious  and  prosperous 
class  of  its  inhabitants  was  apparent  in  every  commu- 
nity of  Castile.  Catalonia  lost  three-quarters  of  its 
population.  The  districts  of  Aragon  rendered  deso- 
late by  Moorish  expulsion  have  never  been  repeopled. 
Agricultural  science  and  mechanical  skill  disappeared. 
The  hatred  and  disdain  entertained  by  the  Spaniards 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  821 

for  the  conquered  race  had  never  permitted  them  to 
profit  hy  the  experience  and  ingenuity  of  the  latter. 
Intercourse  with  a  Moor  brought  moral  and  social  con- 
tamination. Still  less  could  the  admission  of  infe- 
riority, which  the  adoption  of  his  methods  implied,  be 
tolerated  by  the  haughty,  the  vainglorious,  the  impe- 
cunious hidalgo. 

The  effects  of  the  discouragement  of  all  forms  of 
art  and  industry  consequent  upon  war  and  persecution 
had  been  felt  long  previous  to  the  expulsion  of  the 
Moriscoes  in  every  part  of  the  Peninsula.  For  many 
years  after  the  capture  of  Cordova  by  Ferdinand  III., 
it  was  found  necessary  to  bring  provisions  from  the 
North,  not  only  for  the  support  of  the  army,  but  to 
rescue  from  famine  the  sparse  and  thriftless  popula- 
tion of  a  province  which  under  the  Ommeyade  khalif  s 
maintained  with  ease  the  great  capital,  as  well  as 
twelve  thousand  villages  and  hamlets. 

The  decline  in  the  number  of  inhabitants  under 
Spanish  rule  indicates  the  utter  stagnation  of  trade 
and  agriculture.  In  1492  the  population  of  Castile 
was  six  and  three-quarter  million;  in  1700  there  were 
in  the  entire  kingdom  of  Spain  but  six  million  souls — 
such  had  been  the  significant  retrogression  in  two  hun- 
dred years. 

The  combined  revenues  of  the  Spanish  Crown  at 
the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  amounted  to  a  sum 
equal  to  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  about  one- 
thousandth  of  the  annual  receipts  of  the  imperial 
treasury  at  the  death  of  Abd-al-Rahman  III.,  seven 
hundred  years  before. 

Fifty  years  after  the  banishment  of  the  Moors,  the 
combined  population  of  the  cities  of  Cordova,  Seville, 
Toledo,  Granada,  had  decreased  by  more  than  four- 
fifths;  it  is  now  about  one-tenth  of  its  amount  during 
the  Moslem  domination.  In  1788  there  were  fifteen 
hundred  and  eleven  deserted  towns  in  the  Peninsula. 

Vou  IIL— 91 


822  HiSTOBT  OF  THE 

Toledo,  celebrated  for  its  silken  fabrics,  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  fifteenth  century  had  sixty  thousand 
looms ;  in  1651  it  had  five  thousand ;  to-day  it  has  none. 
The  same  industry  was  pursued  with  great  success  at 
Seville;  in  the  seventeenth  century  the  number  of  its 
looms  had  decreased  from  sixteen  thousand  to  sixteen. 
All  other  branches  of  manufactures  declined  in  the 
same  proportion.  Even  a  large  part  of  the  kingdom 
of  Valencia,  the  garden  of  Europe,  was  for  years  an 
uninhabited  wilderness.  With  the  Moslem  expulsion 
the  knowledge  of  many  arts,  once  the  source  of  great 
profit,  was  hopelessly  lost. 

To  the  pious  Spaniard  all  these  sacrifices  were  as 
nothing  when  compared  with  the  triumph  of  the  Faith. 
The  ports  were  unoccupied,  the  quays  grass-grown, 
but  the  armies  of  the  Cross  had  conquered.  The  man- 
ufactories had  fallen  into  decay,  the  streets  were  silent, 
the  highways  were  deserted  except  by  the  timorous 
traveller  and  the  liu-king  robber,  but  not  a  Moslem 
or  a  Jewish  heretic  was  to  be  encountered  in  His  Most 
Catholic  Majesty's  dominions.  At  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  throughout  the  entire  Peninsula, 
once  the  centre  of  learning  in  Europe,  the  resort  of 
scholars  of  every  land,  the  seat  of  the  greatest  educa- 
tional institutions  of  the  Middle  Ages,  not  a  single 
academy  existed  where  instruction  could  be  obtained 
in  astronomy,  natural  philosophy,  or  any  branch  of 
mathematics.  A  hundred  years  later  no  one  could  be 
f  oimd  who  understood  even  the  rudiments  of  chemis- 
try. To-day,  among  the  inhabitants  of  Spain,  accord- 
ing to  the  published  tables  of  statistics,  only  one  person 
in  every  four  can  read.  But  what  mattered  the  de- 
struction of  commerce,  the  decay  of  production,  the 
dearth  of  intelligence,  if  the  land  was  purged  of  false 
doctrines?  Was  it  not  a  source  of  national  congratu- 
lation that  ecclesiastical  authority  was  once  more  para- 
mount; that  half  of  the  able-bodied  population,  male 


MooBisn  Empekb  m  Eubofe  838 

and  female,  were  devoted  to  monastic  life;  that  mag- 
nificent religious  f owidations,  such  as  the  world  had 
never  before  seen,  arose  on  every  side;  that,  though 
the  royal  treasury  was  bankrupt,-  the  annual  revenues 
of  the  Church  amounted  to  nearly  fifty-three  million 
doUars?  Surely  these  manifold  divine  blessings  were 
not  to  be  weighed  with  the  transitory  benefits  derived 
from  the  labors  of  a  mass  of  perverse  and  unregen- 
erate  heretics! 

The  results,  both  immediate  and  remote,  of  this 
crime  against  civilization  thus  proved  fatal  to  Spain. 
Its  principal  sources  of  subsistence  removed,  the  king- 
dom was  desolated  by  famine.  It  became  necessary 
to  extend  public  aid  to  many  noble  families,  once  af- 
fluent, but  now  impoverished  by  the  suicidal  course  of 
the  crown.  Popular  sentiment,  exasperated  by  dis- 
tress, denoimced  in  unsparing  terms  the  authors  of  the 
national  calamity.  The  Archbishop  of  Valencia,  im- 
able  to  endure  tiie  daily  reproaches  to  which  he  was 
subjected,  and  overcome  by  the  sufferings  for  which 
he  was  responsible,  died  of  remorse.  Silence  and 
gloom  occupied  vast  tracts  formerly  covered  by  ex- 
uberant vegetation.  In  the  place  of  the  farmer  and 
the  mechanic  appeared  the  brigand  and  the  outlaw. 
Deprived  of  protection,  the  open  country  was  aban- 
doned; the  peasantry  sought  the  security  of  fortified 
places,  and  all  occupations  whose  pursuit  implied  ex- 
posure to  the  danger  of  violence  were  necessarily  sus- 
pended. The  conditions  controlling  every  rank  of 
society  which  were  established  in  the  Peninsula  by  the 
blind  and  savage  prejudices  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury are  largely  prevalent  to-day.  A  dreadful  retri- 
bution has  followed  a  tragedy  whose  example  happily 
no  other  nation  has  ventured  to  imitate;  and  which, 
from  the  hoiu*  of  its  occurrence,  has  afflicted  with 
every  misfortune  to  the  last  generation  the  people  re- 
sponsible for  its  hideous  atrocities. 


824  HiSTOBT  OF  THE 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

GENERAL   CONDITION   OF  EUROPE   FROM   THE   VIII.   TO 
THE  XVI.   CENTUEY 

700-1500 

Effects  of  Barbarian  Supremacy  on  the  Nations  of  Europe — Rise 
of  the  Papal  Power — Character  of  the  Popes — ^Their  Vices 
and  Crimes — The  Interdict — Corrupt  Practices  of  Prelates 
and  Degradation  of  the  Papacy — Institution  of  the  Monas- 
tic Orders — ^Their  Grreat  Influence — ^Their  Final  Degeneragr 
— ^Wealth  of  the  Religious  Houses — ^The  Byzantine  Sjrstem 
— Its  Characteristics — Power  of  the  Eunuchs — Splendor  of 
Constantinople — Destruction  of  Learning — Debased  Condi- 
tion of  the  Greeks — The  People  of  Western  Europe — ^Tyr- 
anny of  Caste  and  its  Effects — Feudal  Oppression — ^Life  of 
the  Noble — His  Amusements — ^The  Serf  and  his  Degrada- 
tion— His  Hopeless  Existence — ^Treatment  of  the  Jews — 
Prevalence  of  Epidemics — :  Religious  Festivals  —  General 
Ignorance — Scarcity  and  Value  of  Books — Persecution  of 
Learning — ^The  Empire  of  the  Church — Its  Extraordinary 
Vitality. 

In  order  that  the  reader  may  thoroughly  understand 
and  properly  appreciate  the  moral  and  intellectual 
supremacy  of  the  Spanish  Arabs  and  their  prodigious 
advance  in  the  domain  of  science  and  the  arts,  I  have 
thought  it  advisable,  by  way  of  contrast,  to  present  to 
him  a  short  and  superficial  sketch  of  the  religious,  po- 
litical, and  domestic  conditions  which  prevailed  in  the 
society  of  contemporaneous  Europe.  The  extent  of 
this  vast  and  comprehensive  subject — one  which  has 
exhausted  the  erudition  of  many  great  historians, 
whose  works  of  themselves  would  constitute  a  consid- 
erable library — ^must,  therefore,  excuse  the  incomplete 
and  cursory  character  of  this  chapter;  while  its  im- 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  825 

portance  as  a  standard  of  comparison  will  account  for 
an  apparent  deviation  from  the  general  plan  embraced 
by  these  volumes. 

The  elegant  luxury  and  refined  civilization  of  the 
Romans  had  disappeared  amidst  the  universal  anarchy 
which  followed  the  dissolution  of  their  empire.  The 
boundaries  of  great  states  and  kingdoms  had  been 
obliterated.  Provinces  once  famed  for  their  fertility 
were  now  the  haunts  of  prowling  beasts  and  truculent 
barbarians.  The  despotic  but  generally  salutary  gov- 
ernment of  the  Caesars  had  everywhere,  save  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  Byzantium,  been  replaced  by  the 
capricious  and  irregular  jurisdiction  of  petty  diief- 
tains,  whose  violent  passions  were  restrained  only  by 
their  weakness,  and  of  marauding  princes,  ambitious 
to  destroy  every  vestige  of  that  arcUtectural  magnifi- 
cence and  mental  culture  whose  monuments  they  de- 
spised, and  whose  example  they  had  neither  the  desire 
nor  the  capacity  to  emulate.  Instead  of  a  smiling 
landscape,  everywhere  exhibiting  the  traces  of  agri- 
cultural skill  and  laborious  and  patient  industry,  a 
prospect  of  universal  desolation  met  the  eye  of  the 
anxious  and  hurrying  wayfarer.  Moss-grown  heaps 
of  rubbish  alone  marked  the  site  of  many  a  once  flour- 
ishing and  opulent  city.  The  towering  aqueducts, — 
those  engineering  marvels  of  the  ancient  world, — 
whose  majestic  ruins  still  excite  the  admiration  of  all 
mankind,  were  broken  and  fallen  into  decay.  The 
peerless  temples  and  altars  of  the  gods  had  been  dese- 
crated by  the  hands  of  sacrilegious  Goth,  Hun,  and 
LfOmbard.  Bands  of  brigands,  insensible  to  pity, 
swarmed  upon  the  highways.  In  the  cities  the  equita- 
ble decisions  of  the  prsetor  had  been  supplanted  by 
the  extortions  of  ecclesiastical  fraud  and  barbarian  in- 
solence. The  vices  prevalent  during  the  most  aban- 
doned period  of  Roman  licentiousness  had  survived, 
and  had  been  aggravated  by  the  unfeeling  cruelty  of 


L 


826  History  op  the 

the  conquerors.  No  scruples  of  humanity  or  delicacy 
imggested  the  concealment  of  the  most  revolting 
orgies.  The  streets  of  the  Eternal  City  exhibited 
enormities  whose  very  mention  the  rules  of  modem 
propriety  do  not  tolerate.  Banquets  where  the  brutal 
propensities  of  the  turbulent  and  uncouth  guests  were 
indulged  to  the  utmost  constantly  afforded  provoca- 
tion for  bloodshed  and  murder.  Knowledge  of  letters, 
understanding  and  appreciation  of  the  arts,  had 
already  wholly  vanished.  The  literary  masterpieces 
of  classic  genius  remained  unknown  or  forgotten  in 
the  insignificant  collections  of  scattered  libraries,  or 
had  been  buried  under  the  smoking  ruins  of  those  in- 
stitutions of  learning  which  once  adorned  the  capitals 
and  the  provincial  cities  of  Greece  and  Italy. 

By  the  accident  of  geographical  position,  by  the 
adoption  of  familiar  political  maxims,  and  by  the  in- 
corporation into  its  ritual  of  many  ceremonies  long 
endeared  to  the  votaries  of  Paganism,  the  Church  of 
Rome  had  secured  an  influence  over  the  minds  of  men 
which  imder  any  other  circumstances  it  could  scarcely 
have  acquired.  The  revered  name  and  dignity  of 
Supreme  Pontiff  imparted  authority  to  its  decrees  and 
gave  prestige  to  its  decisions  on  questions  of  doctrine. 
The  five  Christian  emperors,  from  Constantine  to 
Gratian,  adopted  without  alteration  the  attributes  and 
wore  the  insignia  of  the  sacred  office  established  by 
Numa  and  usurped  by  Augustus.  The  asstimption  of 
imperial  power  is  shown  by  the  extent  of  Papal  juris- 
diction long  sharply  defined  by  the  ancient  limits  of 
the  empire.  The  adoption  of  the  Latin  idiom  enabled 
the  Church  to  conmiunicate  secretly  with  its  servants 
in  the  most  distant  countries;  while  at  the  same  time 
it  invested  the  proceedings  of  its  worship  with  a  mys- 
tery which  awed  the  ignorant  and  fanatic  believer. 
The  splendid  ceremonial,  the  imposing  temples,  the 
elaborate  vestments,  the  costly  furniture  of  the  altar 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  827 

enriched  with  gold  and  jewels,  the  incense,  the  solemn 
chants,  the  consecration  of  the  Host, — ^all  powerfully 
impressed  the  superstitious  children  of  the  slaves  of 
ancient  mythology,  in  whose  minds  still  lingered  traces 
of  those  traditions  which  had  been  received  by  their 
fathers  with  the  implicit  faith  due  to  the  oracles  of  the 
gods. 

In  the  course  of  centuries,  the  primitive  simplicity 
of  the  Gospel  and  the  purity  of  life  which  distin- 
guished the  first  Christians  had  been  lost  in  the  com- 
plex theology,  in  the  imseemly  contests  for  precedence, 
in  the  crimes  and  the  licentiousness  which  distracted 
the  society  of  the  Eternal  City.  From  a  simple  priest, 
whose  tenure  of  oflSce  was  dependent  on  the  pleasure 
of  his  associates,  the  Bishop  of  Rome  had  been  exalted 
into  a  mighty  sovereign,  responsible  only  to  the  powers 
of  Heaven.  The  palace  of  the  Vatican  exhibited  all 
the  vices  of  the  most  corrupt  of  courts.  The  assump- 
tion of  infallibility, — ^an  inevitable  result  of  the  pre- 
posterous claims  of  the  Papacy, — ^through  the  contra- 
dictory interpretations  of  different  individuals  whose 
interests  were  conflicting  led  to  the  most  opposite  con- 
clusions, often  to  results  fatal  to  the  peace  and  honor 
of  the  Chiu-ch.  The  faith  of  the  populace  was  weak- 
ened. Infidelity  in  the  priesthood  became  too  com- 
mon to  excite  remark.  The  universal  depravity  was 
incredible  and  appalling.  The  general  demoralization 
resulting  from  the  example  of  the  clergy,  whose  athe- 
ism and  debauchery  were  proverbial,  threatened  the 
existence  of  society,  a  catastrophe  which  the  thorough 
organization  of  the  hierarchy  alone  prevented.  Even  in 
the  fifteenth  century  Machiavelli  wrote,  "  The  nearer 
a  nation  is  to  Rome  the  more  impious  are  the  people." 
When  the  German  Schopp  called  the  famous  scholar, 
Casaubon,  an  atheist,  the  latter  retorted:  "  If  I  were 
an  atheist  I  should  now  be  at  Rome,  where  I  have 
often  been  invited."    The  effects  of  this  superb  eccle- 


1 


828  HlSTOEY  OF  THE 

siastical  organization  were  not  long  in  manifesting 
themselves.  The  legitimate  resources  of  power  were 
aided  by  every  device  of  fraud,  of  oppression,  of 
imposture,  of  forgery.  A  succession  of  able  and  un- 
principled pontiffs  fastened  on  Christendom  a  yoke 
which  the  intelligence  and  the  science  of  subsequent 
generations  have  not  even  yet  been  able  to  entirely 
remove.  The  temporal  supremacy  of  the  Caesars  was 
re-established  over  Europe;  the  dogmas  of  Catholi- 
cism were  preached  in  distant  continents  unknown  to 
the  ancient  world;  and  a  tyranny  far  more  terrible 
in  its  consequences  than  that  experienced  under  the 
cruel  rule  of  Nero  and  Domitian  was  imposed  upon 
the  intellectual  aspirations  of  mankind. 

No  branch  of  history  affords  such  a  significant  illus- 
tration of  human  craft  and  human  weakness  as  the 
story  of  the  ambition,  the  intrigues,  and  the  vices  of 
the  Popes.  In  its  consideration,  the  fact  must  never 
be  lost  sight  of  that  the  Holy  Father  was,  as  a  neces- 
sary consequence  of  his  creed,  the  earthly  embodiment 
of  spiritual  perfection, — ^the  vicegerent  of  Almighty 
God.  Either  the  admission  of  a  single  error  of  judg- 
ment, or  a  controversy  involving  the  most  insignificant 
tenet  sustained  by  one  pope  and  disputed  by  his  suc- 
cessor, was  fatal  to  the  claim  of  infallibility,  which 
was  the  foundation  of  the  entire  ecclesiastical  system. 
The  omniscience  conferred  by  the  apostolic  succes- 
sion, which  traced  its  origin  to  the  Saviour  Himself, 
could  never  be  mistaken.  The  example  of  the  Su- 
preme Pontiff,  the  relations  he  sustained  to  the  great 
ofiicials  of  his  court,  his  occupations,  his  diversions,  his 
tastes,  his  habits,  his  conversation,  were  of  far  greater 
importance  in  the  eyes  of  the  meanest  peasant  of  some 
remote  kingdom  who  acknowledged  his  mission  than 
were  the  most  glorious  achievements  of  any  temporal 
sovereign.  The  possibilities  for  the  attainment  to  po- 
sitions of  such  authority  and  influence  as  were  offered 


Moorish  Empire  in  Eueope  829 

by  the  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy  had  been  unknown 
to  Paganism.  These  opportunities  enabled  men  of 
base  origin,  but  of  extraordinary  talents,  to  reach  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter,  men  whose  faults  were  overlooked 
or  palliated  by  the  indulgent  Sipirit  of  the  age  on 
account  of  the  successful  prosecution  of  their  schemes 
and  the  veneration  which  attached  to  their  caUing. 

Thus,  among  the  powers  of  the  earth,  highest  in 
rank,  greatest  in  renown,  supreme  in  influence,  pre- 
eminent in  infamy,  was  the  Papacy  of  Rome.  The 
maintenance  of  an  uniform  standard  of  orthodoxy 
was  little  considered  by  the  spiritual  potentate  whose 
will  was  the  law  of  Christendom.  It  is  well  known 
to  every  student  of  Church  history  that  Jewish  doc- 
trines predominated  in  the  early  days  of  Christianity 
and  controlled  the  policy  of  its  priesthood.  The 
Pagan  ideas  and  ceremonies  inherited  from  the  Roman 
pontiffs  it  never  laid  aside.  Every  form  of  heterodox 
belief  was  entertained  at  different  periods  by  the  in- 
cumbents of  the  Holy  See.  St.  Clement  was  an 
Arian;  Anastasius  a  Nestorian;  Honorius  a  Mono- 
theHte;  John  XXII.  an  unconcealed  atheist.  The 
contradictory  dogmas,  the  acrimonious  disputes,  the 
frightful  anathemas,  that  resulted  from  the  adoption 
of  these  heretical  principles  of  doctrine  were  the  pub- 
lic reproach  of  the  Christian  world.  As  the  power 
of  the  Papacy  increased,  its  possession  became  more 
and  more  an  object  to  ambitious  and  unscrupulous 
adventurers.  It  was  sought  and  obtained  by  arts 
countenanced  only  by  the  vilest  of  demagogues.  It 
was  sold  by  one  Pope  to  another;  and,  like  the  im- 
perial laurel  appropriated  by  the  Pretorian  Guards, 
it  was  put  up  at  auction  by  cardinals  and  became  the 
property  of  the  most  wealthy  purchaser.  Some  of  the 
Holy  Fathers  had  not  taken  orders;  others  had  not 
even  received  the  sacraments  of  baptism  and  com- 
munion before  being  invested  with  the  pontifical  dig- 


880  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

nity.  In  some  instances  the  tiara  and  the  mitre  were 
placed  upon  the  brows  of  children.  Neither  John 
XII.  nor  Benedict  IX.  had  attained  the  age  of  thirteen 
years  when  intrusted  with  the  direction  of  the  spir- 
itual affairs  of  Christendom.  An  infant  of  five  years 
was  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Rheims.  Another  who 
was  only  ten  was  placed  upon  the  episcopal  throne 
of  Narbonne.  Alonso  of  Aragon,  tiie  natural  son 
of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  was  made  Archbishop  of 
Saragossa  at  the  age  of  six.  The  origin  of  the  vicars 
of  Christ  was  sometimes  of  the  most  obscure  and  often 
of  the  most  disgraceful  character.  Stephen  VII., 
John  X.,  John  XI.,  John  XII.,  Boniface  VII.,  Greg- 
ory VII.,  were  the  sons  of  courtesans.  In  some  in- 
stances the  infamy  was  further  increased  by  the  addi- 
tional stigma  attaching  to  the  crime  of  incest.  The 
famous  courtesan  Marozia,  who  for  the  greater  part 
of  her  life  disposed  of  the  Papacy  at  her  will,  is 
credited  with  the  installation  of  eight  Popes,  all  her 
lovers  or  her  children,  one  of  whom  was  at  once  her 
son  and  grandson.  The  empire  she  acquired  by  her 
talents  and  her  beauty  lasted  almost  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  To  that  epoch  is  ascribed  an  occurrence  that 
many  writers  have  designated  as  fabulous,  but  which 
is  established  by  evidence  far  more  convincing  than 
many  events  that  have  successfully  withstood  the  most 
formidable  assaults  of  hostile  criticism.  It  was  long 
asserted  by  chroniclers  of  the  orthodox  faith,  and  uni- 
versally credited,  that  in  the  capital  of  Christianity, 
hallowed  by  the  glorious  deaths  of  countless  martyrs, 
linked  with  the  proud  associations  of  the  rise  and 
progress  of  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Papacy,  and 
ennobled  by  the  most  signal  victories  of  the  Church, 
a  monstrous  prodigy  had  occurred.  It  was  said  that 
Pope  John  VIII.,  whose  sex  had  hitherto  been  un- 
suspected save  by  those  favored  with  her  intimacy, 
while  returning  from  the  celebration  of  a  solemn  fes- 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  881 

tival,  at  the  head  of  a  procession  of  cardinals  and 
bishops  and  surrounded  with  the  glittering  emblems 
of  pontifical  power  and  majesty,  had  been  seized  with 
the  throes  of  parturition  in  one  of  the  most  public 
thoroughfares  of  Rome. 

The  original  acceptance  of  and  belief  in  this  por- 
tentous catastrophe,  and  its  subsequent  denial,  form 
one  of  the  most  curious  episodes  in  the  annals  of  the 
Church.  For  five  centuries  it  was  implicitly  received 
as  historic  truth.  The  life  of  Pope  Joan  long  occupied 
a  prominent  place  in  the  biographies  of  the  successors 
of  St.  Peter,  dedicated  to  eminent  prelates,  often  to 
the  Pontifi^s  themselves.  The  occurrence — ^whose  lo- 
cality was  marked  by  the  statue  of  a  woman  wearing 
the  Papal  insignia  and  holding  a  child  in  her  arms — 
was  minutely  described  in  the  works  of  learned  and 
respectable  Ustorians.  This  memorial  was  thrown  into 
the  Tiber  by  the  order  of  Sixtus  V.  Her  bust,  de- 
stroyed by  Charles  VIII.  during  the  French  invasion 
of  Italy,  was  long  an  ornament  of  one  of  the  churches 
of  Sienna.  Until  the  time  of  Leo  X.  certain  cere- 
monies, which  cannot  be  described,  were  publicly  insti- 
tuted at  the  election  of  every  Pope  to  determine  his 
sex.  To  these  even  the  licentious  Borgia  was  forced 
to  conform.  John  Huss,  when  arraigned  before  the 
Council  of  Constance,  amidst  an  unbroken  silence,  re- 
proached the  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  assembled  to 
condemn  him,  and  whom  the  slightest  heretical  asser- 
tion roused  to  tumultuous  fury,  with  the  imposture 
which  had  so  signally  demonstrated  the  weakness  of 
the  vaimted  inspiration  of  the  Papacy.  More  than 
five  himdred  writers,  whose  interests  were  identical 
with  those  of  the  Vatican — ^among  them  chroniclers, 
polemic  divines,  authorities  on  the  history  of  the 
Church  and  its  discipline,  all  enthusiastic  members  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  commimion — ^have  confirmed  the 
existence  of  a  female  Pope. 


882  History  of  the 

But,  whether  true  or  false,  the  disgrace  consequent 
upon  this  gigantic  scandal  was  insignificant  when 
compared  with  the  moral  efi^ect  of  the  long  series  of 
crimes  which  disfigure  the  annals  of  Papal  Rome. 
The  shameless  venality  of  the  Princes  of  the  Churdi 
had  from  the  most  remote  times  disgraced  the  pro- 
ceedings by  which  was  elevated  to  the  throne  of  the 
apostles  the  inmiaculate  Vicar  of  Grod.  So  corrupt 
was  the  ecclesiastical  society  of  the  capital  that  no 
Pontifi^  who  endeavored  to  live  a  moral  life  was  secure 
for  a  single  hour.  Celestine  was  poisoned  at  the  in- 
stance of  the  cardinals  eighteen  days  after  receiving 
the  tiara.  Adrian  V.  was  poisoned  in  the  conclave 
itself  before  his  election.  The  partisans  of  antago- 
nistic claimants  of  the  Papacy  pursued  each  other  with 
a  vindictiveness  scarcely  equalled  by  the  most  intense 
bitterness  of  political  faction.  Each  aspirant  to  the 
pontifical  dignity  denounced  his  opponent  as  an  anti- 
pope,  and  exhausted  the  rich  vocabulary  of  clerical 
invective  in  consigning  him  to  the  vengeance  of 
Heaven.  The  defeated  candidate  was  subjected  to 
every  variety  of  torture;  to  the  deprivation  of  his 
nose,  his  eyes,  his  tongue;  to  the  suffering  of  confine- 
ment in  noisome  dimgeons ;  to  the  pangs  of  prolonged 
starvation.  The  temporal  enemies  of  the  Holy  Father 
fared  even  worse  than  his  rivals  for  spiritual  suprem- 
acy. No  deed  was  considered  too  flagitious  for  the 
removal  of  a  dangerous  and  obstinate  adversary.  In- 
nocent IV.  employed  the  trusted  physician  and  friend 
of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.  to  compass  his  destruc- 
tion. The  Emperor  Henry  VII.  was  poisoned  by 
order  of  Clement  V.  The  assassination  of  the  Medici 
under  Sixtus  IV.  was  planned  by  that  Pope,  and  car- 
ried out  before  the  altar,  the  signal  for  attack  being  the 
elevation  of  the  Host  by  the  celebrant,  an  archbishop. 
Half  of  the  population  of  Rome  was  sacrificed  to 
gratify  the  malignity  of  Formosus,  whose  quarrels 


MooBiSH  Empire  in  Eubofe  888 

long  survived  him  and  desolated  the  fairest  provinces 
of  Italy.  Three  years  after  the  establishment  of  the 
Inquisition  in  Spain  by  Gregory  IX.  its  victims 
already  numbered  tens  of  thousands. 

In  the  variety  and  shrewdness  of  schemes  for  pro- 
curing money  the  statesmen  of  no  government  have 
ever  equalled  the  astute  financiers  of  the  Apostolic 
See.  In  additidn  to  the  infinite  number  of  vexatious 
and  cruel  expedients  suggested  by  the  possession  and 
exercise  of  irresponsible  power,  the  Popes  employed 
means  which  violated  every  precept  of  morality,  but 
whose  successful  issue  demonstrated  the  practical 
wisdom  which  had  inspired  them.  Simony  was  in- 
variably practised,  and  not  infrequently  defended, 
even  by  those  whose  manifest  duty  it  was  to  suppress 
it.  The  wealthiest  candidate  for  the  Papacy,  whose 
physical  infirmities  indicated  a  speedy  demise,  had  the 
best  prospect  for  the  realization  of  his  ambition.  The 
price  of  a  cardinal's  hat  varied  from  one  thousand  to 
ten  thousand  florins;  the  pallium  of  an  archbishop 
was  rated  still  higher  in  the  ecclesiastical  market,  for 
the  dignity  of  which  it  was  the  symbol  usually  brought 
thirty  thousand  ducats  in  gold.  To  meet  this  tax 
demanded  at  the  death  of  every  metrojpolitan,  the 
new  incumbent  was  sometimes  reduced  to  pledge  the 
furniture  of  the  altar  as  security  to  Jewish  usurers, 
who  alone  were  able  to  raise  such  exorbitant  amounts; 
and  it  was  a  source  of  complaint  among  the  devout 
that  Hebrew  children  had  been  seen  to  amuse  them- 
selves with  the  utensils  consecrated  to  pious  uses,  and 
that  in  the  unhallowed  orgies  of  their  fathers  sacred 
vessels  were  habitually  profaned  which  had  originally 
been  destined  to  receive  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ. 
When  the  exigencies  of  the  Pontiff  required  it,  the 
sacrifice  of  a  few  cardinals  afforded  a  safe  and  easy 
means  of  replenishing  the  Papal  treasury  by  the  sale 
of  the  vacant  dignities  and  by  the  reversion  of  the 


884  History  of  the 

estates  of  the  victims  to  the  domain  of  the  Holy  See. 
It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  Alexander  VI.  died  from 
drinking  poisoned  wine  intended  for  certain  princes 
of  the  Church  whom  he  had  invited  to  share  his  treach- 
erous hospitality.  Great  wealth  was  obtained  by  tiie 
sale  of  absolutions  granted  by  one  Pope  from  the 
anathemas  of  his  predecessor.  This  device  suggested 
the  traffic  in  indulgences,  promising  immunity  from  all 
punishment  for  crime.  The  avarice  of  Johii  XXII. 
prompted  him  to  draw  up  and  promulgate  a  sdiedule 
of  fines,  so  that  by  the  payment  of  trifling  sums  the 
culprit  was  completely  absolved  from  the  moral  and 
secular  consequences  of  the  most  atrocious  offences  in 
the  criminal  calendar. 

In  their  relations  with  foreign  courts  the  Popes 
brought  to  bear  every  source  of  corruption  and  vio- 
lence for  the  accomplishment  of  their  ends.  They 
availed  themselves  of  the  prestige  attaching  to  their 
sacred  office  for  the  encouragement  of  insurrection 
and  parricide.  They  openly  sold  the  investitures  of 
distant  kingdoms.  They  armed  the  servant  against 
his  master,  the  vassal  against  his  lord,  the  subject 
against  his  king.  They  prohibited  the  education  of 
children  as  inimical  to  the  interests  of  the  clergy, 
who  alone  were  declared  worthy  to  enjoy  the  bene- 
fits of  learning.  When  an  obnoxious  enemy  was 
to  be  removed,  they  did  not  shrink  from  selecting 
instruments  at  whose  employment  honor  and  piety 
alike  revolt, — ^the  envenomed  poniard,  the  sacramen- 
tal elements  mingled  with  deadly  poisons  and  yet 
blessed  by  the  ceremonies  of  the  officiating  prelate, 
whose  instructions  impressed  the  unsuspicious  victim 
with  the  belief  that  he  knelt  in  the  very  presence  of 
God.  According  to  Montaigne,  the  Holy  Father  was 
accustomed  to  use  during  the  pontifical  mass  a  con- 
trivance which  counteracted  the  effects  of  a  conse- 
crated draught  whidh  might  otherwise  be  a  messenger 


MooBiSH  Emfibe  in  Eueope  885 

uf  death.  From  having  been  the  vassals  of  the  Em- 
peror, the  tributaries  of  the  Saracen  Emirs,  and  the 
tools  of  the  Kings  of  France,  the  Popes  in  time  arro- 
gated to  themselves  imperial  prerogatives;  and  his 
title  to  the  crown  was  not  considered  as  vested  in  a 
sovereign  mitil  it  had  been  placed  upon  his  brow  by 
an  ecclesiastic  duly  commissioned  by  the  Successor  of 
St.  Peter.  Through  the  insidious  influence  of  a  super- 
stition, fostered  by  the  ignorance  of  the  time,  the 
authority  of  powerful  monarchs  was  disputed  in  their 
capitals.  Degrading  penances  were  imposed  upon 
and  performed  by  them  without  remonstrance.  The 
humiliation  of  the  prince  in  the  eyes  of  his  people  in- 
creased, in  a  corresponding  degree,  the  importance  of 
the  spiritual  ruler  who  could  inflict  such  punishments. 
By  excommunication  and  interdict — ^the  one  cutting 
off  an  individual  from  the  fellowship  of  believers,  the 
other  aimed  at  an  entire  community  or  kingdom  and 
involving  the  innocent  with  the  guilty — ^the  vengeance 
of  the  Church  was  visited  upon  all,  of  whatever  rank, 
Tvho  had  violated  her  canons  or  interfered  with  her 
projects  of  ambition.  It  is  difficult  in  our  age  to  ap- 
preciate the  grave  effects  of  ecclesiastical  f ulminations 
which  the  progress  of  intelligence  and  the  development 
of  civilization  have  long  since  deprived  of  their  terrors. 
Of  excommunication,  anything  besides  a  himian  being 
might  be  the  subject,  from  a  comet  to  rats,  worms,  and 
every  kind  of  vermin.  The  interdict  was  equivalent 
to  a  dreadful  curse  inflicted  by  the  vicegerent  of  God. 
With  awe-inspiring  ceremonies,  usually  performed  at 
midnight  to  increase  their  impressive  effect,  the  de- 
cree of  the  Holy  See  was  solemnly  proclaimed.  In 
gloomy  silence,  occasionally  broken  by  sobs  and  half - 
stifled  lamentations,  the  terror-stricken  multitude 
listened  to  a  sentence  which,  in  their  eyes,  exceeded, 
through  the  direful  consequences  it  entailed,  the 
severest  penalty  that  any  earthly  tribunal  could  in- 


886  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

flict.  The  churches  were  closed.  The  bells  were 
silent.  The  tapers  burning  on  the  altars  were  extin- 
guished. The  relics  were  concealed.  Before  every 
house  of  worship  where  the  Host  was  enshrined  the 
consecrated  wafer  was  publicly  committed  to  the 
flames.  The  crucifixes  of  chapel  and  cathedral  alike, 
enveloped  in  folds  of  black  cloth,  were  hidden  from 
the  reverential  gaze  of  those  on  whose  heads  had  fallen 
the  censure  of  the  Almighty.  All  religious  ceremonies 
were  suspended  save  the  aspersion,  which  secured  for 
the  Church  the  hope  of  another  devotee,  the  solemni- 
zation of  marriage,  and  the  final  rites  which  dismissed 
the  passing  soul  on  the  threshold  of  eternity.  The 
endearments  of  conjugal  afi^ection,  the  last  blessing 
of  the  parent,  the  diversions  of  youth,  the  familiar 
greetings  of  friendship  and  esteem,  were  all  pro- 
hibited. Surrounded  by  black-garbed  priests  bearing 
torches,  an  officiating  cardinal,  robed  in  violet, — ^the 
mourning  of  his  order, — read  the  fatal  edict  which  cut 
ofi^  absolutely  the  only  medium  of  conmiimication  be- 
tween the  sinner  and  his  God.  From  that  moment  the 
people  were  deprived  of  those  welcome  ministrations 
which  had  been  their  pleasure  and  consolation  from 
infancy;  which  had  directed  their  footsteps;  which 
had  confirmed  their  wavering  resolution  in  many  an 
emergency;  which  had  relieved  their  sufferings;  which 
had  enhanced  their  happiness  and  furnished  almost 
their  sole  amusements.  No  opportunity  was  neglected 
to  impress  the  offending  children  of  Rome  with  the 
awful  consequences  of  the  malediction  which  the  per- 
versity of  their  rulers  had  inflicted  upon  them.  Sub- 
jects were  absolved  from  their  allegiance.  The  chan- 
nels of  commerce  were  closed.  Trade  of  every  kind 
was  suspended.  Worshippers,  whose  piety  urged 
them,  in  spite  of  ecclesiastical  menace,  to  frequent  the 
portals  of  the  church,  were  rudely  driven  back.  The 
use  of  meat  was  forbidden,  as  in  Lent;  the  familiar 


Moorish  Emfibe  in  Europe  887 

objects  connected  with  the  service  of  religion  disap- 
peared; the  bells,  deprived  of  their  clappers,  were 
taken  down  from  the  steeples;  the  sacred  effigies  of 
the  saints  were  laid  upon  the  ground  and  sedulously 
concealed  from  the  profane  gaze  of  an  accursed  peo- 
ple; the  rich  trappings  of  the  shrines,  the  utensils  of 
the  mass,  the  vestments  of  the  priests,  were  collected 
and  carried  away.  The  festivals  which  stimulated  the 
devotion  and  amused  the  leisure  of  the  gay  and  care- 
less multitude  were  discontinued ;  the  procession,  which 
impressed  all  classes  with  its  solemnity  and  magnifi- 
cence, no  longer  moved  with  barbaric  pomp  through 
the  crowded  streets  lined  with  long  rows  of  kneeling 
worshippers;  the  voice  of  prayer  was  unheard;  mar- 
riages were  celebrated  in  churchyards;  the  bodies  of 
the  dead,  denied  a  resting-place  in  consecrated  ground 
and  deprived  even  of  the  ordinary  rites  of  sepulture, 
were  cast  unceremoniously  beyond  the  walls  of  cities, 
to  be  devoured  by  unclean  beasts  and  to  poison  the  air 
with  noxious  odors. 

When  the  ban  was  removed,  the  purification  of 
every  edifice,  altar,  and  vessel,  the  reconsecration  of 
every  relic  and  image, — writes  which  demanded  heavy 
contributions, — evinced  the  foresight  and  thrift  of  the 
priesthood. 

Such  were  the  frightful  methods  by  which  the  Pa- 
pacy, in  an  age  of  ignorance,  pimished  a  nation  for 
the  ofi^ences  of  a  sovereign  who  had  thwarted  its 
schemes,  defied  its  power,  or  incurred  its  enmity.  In 
the  estimation  of  the  credulous — ^and  in  those  days  all 
were  credulous — ^the  interdict  was  not  only  a  general 
curse  enforced  by  every  circumstance  which  could 
appeal  to  the  prejudices  of  the  devout;  it  was  the 
sudden  intercepting  of  the  means  of  salvation,  only 
attainable  through  the  agency  of  the  servants  of  the 
Church.  Mediaeval  writers  have  left  us  affecting 
accounts  of  the  universal  wretchedness  which  the  use 

Vol.  III.— « 


888  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

of  this  instniment  of  ecclesiastical  tyranny  produced. 
It  rarely  failed  of  success,  for  no  monarch,  however 
bold  or  arbitrary,  could  long  withstand  its  power;  and 
the  mere  threat  of  its  exercise  was  often  sufficient  to 
strike  terror  into  a  whole  people  and  to  peremptorily 
check  the  well-conceived  designs  of  ambitious  royalty. 
The  interdict  only  fell  into  disuse  after  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Inquisition,  the  most  effective  and  formid- 
able weapon  ever  devised  by  the  merciless  spirit  of 
Papal  despotism. 

With  the  financial  exhaustion  induced  by  profuse 
expenditure  in  every  species  of  luxury  and  vice,  new 
and  ingenious  expedients  were  invented  for  the  re- 
lief of  the  pressing  necessities  of  the  Vatican.  The 
institution  and  frequent  recurrence  of  the  Jubilee, 
with  its  concoiu-se  of  millions  of  fanatics,  each  bear- 
ing his  offering  to  the  insatiable  genius  of  Rome;  the 
Crusades,  which  acquired  for  the  Papacy  incalculable 
wealth  by  the  conveyance  of  lands  for  a  nominal  con- 
sideration and  the  generous  contributions  of  pilgrims; 
the  Constitutions  of  Leo,  which  declared  the  real  prop- 
erty of  ecclesiastical  foxmdations  to  be  inalienable;  the 
Inquisition,  whose  origin  was  more  poUtical  than 
moral,  and  by  whose  rules  one-half  of  the  property  of 
the  condemned  was  forfeited  to  the  sovereign  and  one- 
half  to  the  Church,  are  prominent  examples  of  the 
financial  ability  of  the  Popes. 

The  personal  characters  of  the  infallible  and  in- 
spired guides  of  the  Christian  world  cannot  be  deline- 
ated in  the  fulness  of  their  impious  depravity.  The 
moral  supremacy  assumed  by  them  as  the  representa- 
tives of  celestial  power  was  presumed  to  excuse  the 
open  indulgence  of  vices  which  even  the  most  licentious 
temporal  potentates  sedulously  veiled  from  the  eyes 
of  mankind.  For  more  than  two  centuries  the  Papal 
court  presented  an  almost  uninterrupted  exhibition  of 
profligacy,  which  scandalized  devout  believers,  whose 


Moorish  Emfike  in  Eubofe  889 

imagination  had  invested  the  Holy  Father  with  the 
attributes  of  divinity,  and  excited  the  horror  of  the 
few  eminent  and  consistent  Christian  prelates  who 
remained  pm*e  amidst  the  general  contamination. 
Some  priests  celebrated  mass  in  a  state  of  intoxica- 
tion. Others  paraded  the  streets  with  a  train  of  bac- 
chantes singing  profane  and  licentious  songs.  They 
presented  their  boon  companions  with  the  sacred  ves- 
sels of  the  altar.  Archbishops  appointed  women  of 
infamous  antecedents  to  the  superintendence  of  con- 
vents. The  Vatican  swarmed  with  catamites  and  cour- 
tesans. Colonies  of  nuns,  members  of  the  seraglios  of 
the  cardinals  and  the  Pope,  occupied  houses  adjoining 
the  sanctuary  of  St.  Peter's.  The  satellites  of  the 
Papacy  obtained  the  most  lucrative  emplojrments  by 
means  of  unnatural  blandishments  and  ministrations 
of  unspeakable  vileness.  The  most  debased  ideas 
were  entertained  of  the  ecclesiastical  functions  de- 
volving upon  the  head  of  the  Christian  communion. 
Ministers  of  religion  were  consecrated  in  stables.  Ca- 
thedrals were  made  the  theatre  of  mummeries  and 
obscene  dances.  Virgins  were  torn  from  the  precincts 
of  the  sanctuary  and  dragged  to  the  Papal  harem.  In 
the  time  of  John  XII.  no  woman  was  safe  from  in- 
dignity and  outrage  in  the  very  temple  of  God.  Boni- 
face IX.  sold  a  cardinal's  hat  to  a  profligate  adven- 
turer named  Bathalzar  Cossa,  who  afterwards  seized 
the  tiara  by  force  and  passed  from  the  deck  of  a  pirate 
galley  to  the  Apostolic  Throne.  The  latter,  under  the 
name  of  John  XXIII.,  in  a  few  years  attained  a  repu- 
tation remarkable  even  in  the  annals  of  Papal  degra- 
dation. He  was  deposed  by  the  Council  of  Constance 
after  conviction  of  every  offence  of  which  a  depraved 
imagination  could  conceive.  The  infallibility  of  his 
mission  was  thus  impugned  both  by  his  irregular  ap- 
pointment and  by  the  intervention  of  his  spiritual  sub- 
ordinates who  effected  his  deposition.   It  was  an  axiom 


840  HisroBY  of  the 

of  the  canon  law,  inevitably  resulting  from  the  original 
spurious  grant  of  pontifical  authority,  that  no  guilt 
or  heresy  of  the  Pope  could  divest  him  of  his  spiritual 
powers  or  of  the  sanctity  which  enveloped  his  person 
as  the  Vicar  of  God.  A  dire  necessity  alone  could 
impel  a  coimcil  to  violate  this  fundamental  principle 
upon  which  depended  the  prestige  of  the  Papacy, 
The  impiety  of  the  Holy  Fathers  was  not  less  promi- 
nent than  their  defiance  of  the  rules  of  morality.  Boni- 
face VIII.  openly  blasphemed  the  name  of  Christ 
John  XXII.  ridiculed  the  sacraments.  At  the  ban- 
quets of  John  XII.,  Venus  and  Bacchus  were  in  turn 
toasted  by  noisy  revellers  of  both  sexes,  the  favorite 
associates  of  that  PontiflF. 

The  admissions  of  Pius  II.,  in  his  correspondence 
preserved  in  the  Vatican,  indicate  without  concealment 
the  practice  of  the  grossest  libertinage.  From  the 
orgies  of  Benedict  XII.  dates  the  famous  proverb, 
"  Bibere  papaliter,"  "  To  drink  like  a  Pope."  Sixtus 
IV.,  who  inaugurated  the  custom  of  licensing  the 
brothels  of  Rome,  derived  annually  from  this  horrible 
traffic  the  enormous  sum  of  thirty  thousand  ducats. 
Innocent  X.  sold  to  the  starving  peasantry,  at  an  ad- 
vance of  a  hundred  per  cent.,  the  grain  he  had  pur- 
chased at  the  price  he  himself  had  fixed.  Sixtus  IV. 
gravely  decreed  that  the  illegitimate  children  of  the 
Popes  should,  by  reason  of  their  birth  alone,  be  placed 
on  an  equality  with  the  descendants  of  the  princely 
houses  of  Italy.  The  scandals  of  the  coiurt  of  Avig- 
non under  Clement  VI.  and  his  successors  surpassed 
even  those  which  had  for  ages  made  the  Eternal  City 
a  reproach  to  civilization  and  Christianity.  Of  the 
latter,  Benedict  XII.  has  been  conspicuously  held  up 
to  the  execration  of  posterity  as  the  violator  of  the 
sister  of  Petrarch,  whose  connivance  he  attempted  to 
purchase  with  a  cardinal's  hat  and  a  purse  of  a  thou- 
sand florins  of  gold.     The  bull  of  Alexander  VL> 


MooBiSH  Empire  in  Eubope  841 

which  countenanced  the  slaughter  of  fifteen  million 
inoffensive  natives  of  the  New  World,  is  a  fitting  di- 
max  to  this  revolting  chronicle  of  crime  and  infamy. 
Well  might  the  indignant  Cardinal  Baronius  exclaim, 
that  "  the  Popes  were  monsters  who  installed  them- 
selves on  the  throne  of  Christendom  by  simony  and 
murder."  Few  indeed  there  were  of  the  Holy  Fathers 
who  tolerated  even  the  suspicion  of  profane  learning 
in  their  jurisdiction.  Most  of  them  were  the  impla- 
cable enemies  of  every  kind  of  knowledge.  Gregory 
I.  burned  all  the  copies  of  Livy  that  the  most  rigorous 
search  could  disclose.  Gregory  VIII.,  scandalized  by 
the  "  superstitious  tales"  contained  in  the  work  of  the 
great  Roman  historian,  completed,  as  far  as  human 
energy  and  malignity  could  efi^ect,  the  destructive  task 
of  his  predecessor.  In  consequence,  out  of  a  hundred 
and  forty-two  books  known  to  have  existed  during  the 
reign  of  these  two  PontiflFs,  but  thirty-five  have  siu:- 
vived.  Sylvester  II.  is  said  by  Petrarch  to  have  been 
"  Negromante,  e  di  dottrina  eccellente,"  qualifications 
which  seem  rather  incongruous  with  the  duties  and  the 
traditions  of  the  Papacy.  Nor  was  the  famous  Ger- 
bert  the  only  Pope  devoted  to  uncanonical  and  pro- 
hibited investigations  of  the  false  science  of  the  age. 
John  XIX.  was  skilled  in  hydromancy;  John  XX. 
was  an  expert  in  the  casting  of  horoscopes  and  in 
divination;  Benedict  IX.  consulted  the  familiar 
geniuses  of  the  forests  and  the  mountains;  Gregory 
VII.  possessed  a  manual  of  enchantment,  and  shook 
clouds  of  sparks  from  his  sleeves  when  he  pronounced 
the  Pontifical  blessing;  Alexander  VI.  had  the  repu- 
tation throughout  Italy  of  "  an  abominable  sorcerer." 
The  spirit  of  infidelity  and  blasphemy  which  pre- 
vailed in  the  highest  raiiJ^  of  the  priesthood  also  in- 
fected the  occupants  of  the  throne.  The  lives  of  some 
of  the  most  devout  sovereigns  presented  incredible  ex- 
amples of  cruelty,  hypocrisy,  and  deceit.    Ecclesiasti- 


842  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

cal  example  and  the  facility  of  absolution  had  appar- 
ently destroyed  all  reverence  for  the  precepts  of  iiie 
Gospel,  all  apprehension  of  Divine  wrath.  The  con- 
tempt often  entertained  by  royalty  for  the  decrees  of 
the  Almighty  is  disclosed  by  the  impious  speech  of 
Alfonso  X-,  the  Most  Catholic  King,  "  If  Gk)d  had 
consulted  me  when  He  created  the  world,  I  would 
have  given  Him  some  good  advice." 

The  spurious  donation  of  Constantine,  by  which  the 
first  Christian  sovereign  was  alleged  to  have  conveyed 
to  Pope  Sylvester  I.  the  title  to  the  Western  Empire, 
and  with  it  the  inherited  authority  of  the  Ccesars,  was 
supplemented  in  the  eighth  century  by  the  Forged 
Decretals,  a  series  of  epistles  declared  to  have  been 
promulgated  by  the  first  Bishops  of  Rome,  whose 
names  and  order  of  apostolic  succession  are  themselves 
either  apocryphal  or  based  entirely  on  uncertain  tra- 
dition. The  inconsistencies,  contradictions,  and  ab- 
surdities of  the  Decretals,  which  afford  abundant 
internal  evidence  of  the  ignorance  of  those  who  com- 
posed them,  and  their  entire  want  of  concord  on  im- 
portant points  of  doctrine,  have  demonstrated  beyond 
question  their  fraudulent  origin.  But  in  an  age  of 
superstition  their  authority  was  amply  sufficient  to  ac- 
complish the  object  for  which  they  were  invented, — 
the  autocracy  of  the  Popes.  The  general  deficiency  of 
critical  knowledge,  assisted  by  the  reverence  enter- 
tained by  the  masses  for  the  decisions  of  the  Successor 
of  St.  Peter,  caused  these  glaring  forgeries  to  be  ac- 
cepted with  the  same  faith  which  was  accorded  to  the 
precepts  of  the  Gospel.  They  conferred  the  most  ex- 
tensive and  dangerous  prerogatives  on  the  Papacy. 
They  subjected  the  claims  of  every  temporal  sover- 
eign to  the  extravagant  pretensions  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  hierarchy.  The  right  of  regal  investiture 
was  by  their  maxims  declared  to  be  inherent  in  mem- 
bers of  the  sacerdotal  order,  and  the  title  of  a  monarch 


Moorish  Empire  in  Eubofe  848 

alleged  to  be  imperfect  until  he  had  been  crowned  by 
a  servant  of  the  Church.  By  their  incorporation  into 
the  civil  procedure  of  Europe, — for  centuries  domi- 
nated by  the  canon  law, — ^they  established  on  a  perma- 
nent basis  the  ideas  and  the  principles  of  Papal  su- 
premacy. No  measure  of  statecraft  has  ever  advanced 
the  interests  of  the  Holy  See  to  such  an  extent  as  the 
publication  of  the  Decretals,  nor  has  any  genuine  series 
of  laws  exercised  over  society  a  more  potent  influence 
than  that  imposed  by  these  fraudulent  epistles  upon 
subsequent  legislation. 

The  vast  ecclesiastical  system,  whose  ramifications 
extended  to  the  most  insignificant  hamlets  of  every 
country  in  Europe  and  whose  jurisdiction  was  para- 
moimt  in  the  domains  of  the  most  powerful  monarchs, 
carried  with  it  the  abuses  and  vices  of  the  central  and 
irresponsible  authority.  The  spiritual  courts  of  pro- 
vincial metropolitans  and  bishops  presented  on  a  di- 
minished scale  the  greed  and  sensuality  of  the  Vati- 
can. The  same  organized  simony  regulated  the  pres- 
entation and  promotion  of  clerk  and  prelate.  The 
same  iniquitous  expedients  were  adopted  for  the  aug- 
mentation of  ecclesiastical  revenues.  Priests  and 
bishops  lived  in  avowed  and  imblushing  concubinage. 
The  seraglio  of  the  Abbot  of  San  Pelayo  de  Anteal- 
taria  contained  seventy  concubines.  Henry  III., 
Bishop  of  Liege,  acknowledged  the  paternity  of  sixty- 
five  illegitimate  children.  In  Spain,  the  metropoli- 
tans, as  well  as  their  subordinates,  maintained  harems 
guarded  by  eunuchs.  In  Germany,  sacerdotal  digni- 
taries of  the  highest  rank  endeavored  to  overturn  the 
empire  by  the  aid  of  idolaters,  and  enlisted  bands 
of  robbers  who  plimdered  cities  and  extorted  enormous 
ransoms  from  wealthy  merchants  and  defenceless 
travellers.  In  France,  the  clergy  of  Verdun  regularly 
furnished  Jewish  traders  with  Christian  children  who 
had  been  emasculated  for  the  slave-markets  of  Cor- 


844  History  of  the 

dova  and  Seville.  In  Italy,  the  sale  of  young  and 
beautiful  maidens  to  the  Moors  of  Sicily  and  Mauri- 
tania,  which  had  invoked  the  indignant  protest  of 
Charlemagne,  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  most 
lucrative  perquisites  of  the  priesthood. 

The  laxity  of  morals  prevalent  in  the  hierarchy  was 
fatal  to  the  preservation  of  ecclesiastical  discipline. 
Priesbs  and  nuns,  divesting  themselves  of  their  sacred 
character,  which  was  supposed  to  present  an  edifying 
example  to  the  laity,  contended  with  each  other  for 
the  infamous  superiority  of  promiscuous  lewdness. 
The  contributions  of  charity,  the  oblations  of  the 
devout,  were  squandered  in  drunken  orgies  and  mid- 
night banquets.  In  certain  Swiss  cantons  a  new  priest 
was  compelled,  on  his  arrival,  to  choose  a  concubine  as 
a  theoretical  safeguard  of  the  honor  of  his  female 
parishioners.  These  connections  were  authorized  by 
the  laws  of  some  countries,  among  them  the  f  ueros  of 
Castile,  which  permitted  the  sons  of  a  celibate  to  in- 
herit half  his  property.  The  sale  of  licenses  to  enter- 
tain what  were  known  as  "  sub-introduced  women" 
was  for  centuries  a  profitable  source  of  revenue  to  the 
bishops  of  England,  and  no  priest  was  exempt  from 
this  tax  whether  he  wished  to  avail  himself  of  its  privi- 
leges or  not.  The  dignity  of  the  sacred  profession  in 
France  had  been  degraded  by  the  sacrilege  of  the  Car- 
lovingians,  who  appointed  their  favorite  oflScers  to  the 
richest  benefices;  and  the  antecedents  and  manners  of 
these  rude  veterans  were,  as  may  be  supposed,  but 
ill-adapted  to  the  solemn  ceremonies  of  the  altar  and 
the  confessional.  Following  this  worthy  example, 
churchmen  of  the  highest  rank  conferred  the  best 
livings  at  their  disposal  on  panders,  lackeys,  and 
barbers.  The  coarse  and  imf  eeling  nature  of  the  (Ger- 
man ecclesiastics  did  not  hesitate  to  prompt  the  viola- 
tion of  every  sentiment  of  honor  in  the  gratification 
of  its  brutal  instincts.    The  holding  of  pluralities  in 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  845 

England  had  become  an  evil  of  national  importance. 
Many  foreign  prelates  had  never  even  visited  the  sees 
whose  revenues  they  enjoyed.  The  possession  of  from 
twenty  to  thirty  benefices  was  not  micommon,  and 
some  fortimate  individuals  are  mentioned  who  held 
from  three  to  four  hundred.  The  deplorable  condi- 
tion of  the  priesthood  was  largely  due  to  the  enforce- 
ment of  celibacy  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  sale  of  dis- 
pensations to  violate  it  on  the  other. 

The  poems,  the  satires,  and  the  tales  which  have 
come  down  to  us  from  the  Middle  Ages  reveal  the 
profligate  manners  of  the  clergy,  as  well  as  the  gen- 
eral contempt  in  which  they  were  held  by  those  whose 
consciences  were  nominally  in  their  keeping.  In  these 
amusing  literary  productions  the  priest,  the  monk,  and 
the  cardinal  are  almost  invariably  objects  of  ridicule. 
Their  peculiar  garb,  their  uncouth  manners,  their 
lubricity,  their  gluttony,  their  avarice,  are  made  the 
butt  of  profane  and  vulgar  witticisms.  They  are 
entrapped  in  ludicrous  and  compromising  situations. 
They  are  made  the  victims  of  severe  practical  jokes. 
The  language  put  into  their  mouths  is  a  compound 
of  obscenity  and  blasphemy.  A  society  which  could 
coimtenance  such  scandalous  revelations  must  have 
had  scanty  respect  for  the  clerical  profession  and  its 
ministers.  Assemblages  of  eminent  episcopal  digni- 
taries fare  little  better  than  individuals  at  the  hands  of 
the  irreverent  narrator.  Nor  can  we  wonder  that  such 
is  the  case  when  we  recall  the  conditions  and  the  acces- 
sories associated  in  the  public  mind  with  the  Councils 
of  the  Church.  At  the  departure  of  the  Papal  court 
from  Lyons,  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Cardinal  Hugo, 
a  distinguished  prelate,  in  the  presence  of  an  immense 
concourse,  made  the  increased  depravity  of  that  city, 
for  which  its  reverend  visitors  were  confessedly  re- 
sponsible, the  subject  of  a  pleasing  jest.  The  Holy 
Fathers  of  the  famous  Council  of  Constance  con- 


846  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

voked  to  reform  the  priesthood,  punish  heresy,  and 
establish  a  more  exalted  standard  of  moral  discipline 
for  the  edification  of  the  migodly,  beguiled  ihe 
moments  snatched  from  the  labors  of  pious  delibera- 
tions and  religious  controversy  in  the  society  of 
crowds  of  buffoons  and  dancers  and  of  seven  hun- 
dred courtesans.  The  institution  of  the  monastic 
orders  not  only  contributed  greatly  to  the  power  of 
the  Papacy  but  exercised,  as  well,  a  direct  and  gen- 
erally a  most  pernicious  influence  on  society.  An 
inmiense  body  of  fanatics,  blindly  devoted  to  the  See 
of  Rome,  was  placed  at  the  absolute  disposal  of  the 
Pope, — invaluable  allies  in  the  bitter  contests  between 
the  Altar  and  the  Throne.  The  mutual  jealousies 
and  enmities  of  the  secular  and  the  regular  clergy 
made  both  the  more  dependent  on  the  favor  of  the 
Supreme  Pontiff.  Every  individual  in  a  religious 
house  was  sworn  to  inviolable  secrecy  concerning  all 
that  took  place  within  its  walls,  a  regulation  which 
became  in  subsequent  times  a  convenient  precaution 
for  the  concealment  of  orgies  that  shunned  the  light 
of  day.  The  assumption  of  the  vows  of  poverty, 
chastity,  and  obedience  imparted  to  the  monk  and 
the  begging  friar  a  peculiar  sanctity  in  the  eyes  of 
the  credulous  multitude.  They  mortified  the  flesh  and 
suppressed  carnal  provocations  by  frequent  bleeding 
and  long  abstinence  from  food.  They  disclaimed  the 
aristocratic  tastes  which  were  a  reproach  to  the  luxu- 
rious members  of  the  secular  priesthood.  They  re- 
noimced  all  the  allurements,  even  all  the  comforts,  of 
life.  Their  physical  necessities  were  supplied  by  alms. 
Their  fervid  oratory,  not  confined  by  the  pillared 
vaults  of  churches,  but  which,  in  the  open  air,  appealed 
to  the  imagination  and  the  prejudices  of  the  ignorant, 
their  voluntary  renunciation  of  the  pleasures  of  the 
world,  the  ostentatious  self-sacrifice  of  their  lives, 
made  them  universal  favorites  with  the  people.    Men 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  ExntOFE  847 

of  all  classes  showered  gifts  upon  them.  Women 
eagerly  sought  their  services  as  confessors.  Their 
visits  to  the  isolated  villages  of  the  simple  peasantry 
Tirere  hailed  as  harbingers  of  good  fortune.  Their 
abodes  offered  gratuitous  rest  and  refreshment  to  the 
belated  traveller.  Their  benediction  attended  the  birth 
and  the  christening  of  the  infants  of  the  poorest  cot- 
tage. Their  prayers  brought  consolation  and  relief  to 
the  bedside  of  the  earnest  Christian  and  the  repentant 
sinner  alike.  At  every  fireside  their  temporary  and 
accidental  presence  was  regarded  as  a  blessing. 

But  a  change  soon  came  over  the  monastic  orders. 
The  temptations  of  wealth,  luxury,  and  personal  en- 
joyment proved  too  strong  to  be  resisted.  The  robe 
of  coarse  cloth  was  metamorphosed  into  a  mantle  of 
the  finest  fabric,  trimmed  with  costly  furs.  The  prior 
no  longer  travelled  alone  and  on  foot,  but  rode  an 
ambling  palfrey,  followed  by  a  train  of  obsequious 
attendants.  The  hermitage  developed  into  a  stately 
palace,  whose  appointments  and  surroimdings  equalled 
and  not  infrequently  eclipsed  in  splendor  the  seats  of 
princes.  The  monk  became  a  great  landed  proprietor. 
By  purchase,  by  gift,  by  inheritance,  by  forfeiture,  he 
acquired  in  every  coimtry  large  and  profitable  estates. 
Half  of  the  lands  of  France  were  at  one  time  in  his 
possession.  The  German  nobility  complained  that 
monasteries  had  absorbed  the  bulk  of  the  real  property 
of  the  empire.  The  visitation  of  Henry  VIII.,  which 
led  to  the  suppression  of  the  religious  houses  of  Eng- 
land, revealed  the  fact  that  the  regular  clergy  had  for 
centuries  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  the  most  productive 
and  valuable  portion  of  the  public  domain.  The  pecu- 
liar character  of  its  tenure  made  ecclesiastical  proprie- 
torship the  more  oppressive.  Its  title  was  in  mort- 
main, and  its  estates  inalienable.  It  could  always 
acquire,  but  never  relinquish,  territorial  rights.  The 
transfers  of  land,  which  constitute  so  important  an 


848  HiSTOKY  OF  THE 

incentive  to  commercial  activity  in  every  community, 
were  not  merely  discomitenanced,  but  were  absolutely 
prohibited,  by  its  selfish  and  unjust  regulations. 

Monastic  Uf  e,  while  nominally  ascetic,  presented  in 
the  more  opulent  communities  a  picture  of  sybaritic 
indulgence.  In  the  cloister  the  refining  influence  of 
literature  had,  even  with  the  gratification  of  sensual 
appetites,  modified  in  the  monk  the  degrading  pro- 
pensities and  ferocious  temper  which  actuated  his  asso- 
(date,  the  feudal  baron.  The  dishes  were  more  varied 
and  delicate;  the  choicest  wines  took  the  place  of  the 
coarse  product  of  the  brewery;  and  the  conversation, 
while  fully  as  irreverent  and  licentious  as  that  which 
entertained  the  guests  of  the  noble,  was  deprived  of 
much  of  its  repulsiveness  by  an  outward  observance 
of  decency.  When  overcome  with  too  much  hospi- 
tality, the  genial  votary  of  Bacchus,  instead  of  being 
left  under  the  table,  exposed  to  the  ridicule  of  his 
companions  or  the  swords  of  brawlers,  was  quietly  con- 
veyed to  his  cell  by  his  more  sober  brethren.  The 
customs  of  the  age  imperatively  demanded  that  the 
head  of  a  religious  house  should  possess  all  the  attri- 
butes of  aristocratic  birth  and  gentle  breeding.  In 
the  eyes  of  the  Celt  especially,  symmetry  of  form  and 
dignity  of  carriage  were  indispensable  characteristics 
of  the  ruler  of  a  monastic  community.  Both  abbot 
and  abbess  were  selected  for  corporeal  rather  than  for 
moral  or  intellectual  qualifications, — for  handsome 
features,  commanding  presence,  and  elegant  manners. 
Popular  opinion  insensibly  associated  mental  supe- 
riority and  pious  inclinations  with  physical  perfection; 
and  personal  deformity  was  supposed,  especially  by 
the  ignorant  multitude,  to  indicate  a  disposition  to 
crime.  This  belief,  no  doubt  unconsciously  derived 
from  the  impressions  left  by  the  Pagan  deities  of 
antiquity,  in  whose  statues,  models  of  beauty,  were 
embodied  the  imrivalled  conceptions  of  the  ancient 


Moorish  Emfibe  in  Eubofe  849 

sculptor,  demonstrates  the  persistent  survival  of  time- 
honored  tradition  and  religious  prejudice  in  the  human 
mind. 

With  the  unlimited  opportunities  for  their  grati- 
fication,  uncanonical  practices  were  at  first  secretly 
indulged  in  and  afterwards  openly  tolerated.  The 
refectory,  once  noted  for  frugality  and  pious  exhor- 
tation, was  now  the  scene  of  gluttonous  feasts  and 
licentious  jesting.  Foreign  delicacies  and  wines  of 
exquisite  flavor  appeared  daily  on  the  table.  Monks 
and  nuns  maintained  unholy  relations  under  the  same 
roof.  Many  priors  had  acknowledged  concubines,  and 
he  who  restricted  himself  to  a  single  mistress  was 
regarded  as  a  paragon  of  ecclesiastical  virtue.  In 
contravention  of  every  rule  of  their  order,  monks 
assumed  disguises  and  wandered  over  the  country  in 
search  of  amorous  adventures.  Through  their  agency 
obnoxious  relatives  were  kidnapped  and  forced  into 
perpetual  confinement,  or,  if  sufficient  pecuniary  in- 
ducements were  ofi^ered,  made  to  disappear  forever 
from  the  knowledge  of  man.  In  England  they  fre- 
quently figured  in  disgraceful  brawls  with  other  dissi- 
pated patrons  of  lupanars  and  taverns.  The  monas- 
teries of  Spain,  France,  and  Italy  presented  an  even 
more  disgraceful  picture  of  drunkenness,  licentious- 
ness, and  disorder. 

The  reputation  for  dissolute  practices  sustained  by 
the  convent  was  in  no  respect  inferior  to  that  of  the 
monastery.  The  nuns  notoriously  aff^ected  all  the  airs 
and  graces  of  the  most  accomplished  coquetry.  They 
arrayed  themselves  in  rich  garments  covered  with 
beautiful  embroidery,  the  work  of  their  own  skilful 
hands.  Their  chemises  of  violet  silk,  their  scarlet 
shoes,  their  veils  of  silver  tissue,  were  the  delight  of 
their  admirers  and  the  abomination  of  the  pious.  They 
wore  chains  and  bracelets  of  gold  and  rings  set  willi 
precious  gems.    They  painted  their  faces.    King  Ed- 


850  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

gar  publicly  reproved  the  nuns  of  his  kingdom  for 
their  attire  of  purple  and  their  jewels.  The  inmates 
of  Fontevrault  wore  the  homed  head-dress  affected 
by  the  fashionable  ladies  of  the  time.  The  spouses  of 
Christ  adopted  every  art  to  attract  the  attention  of 
the  sinful  passer-by.  In  the  orgies  which  defiled  even 
the  houses  dedicated  to  divine  worship  their  shameless- 
ness  was  proverbial.  They  bathed  in  perfect  nudity 
with  monks  and  deacons.  They  sang  bacchanalian 
songs.  Their  conversation  was  spiced  with  blasphe- 
mous ribaldry.  The  universal  prevalence  of  the  evil 
is  proved  by  the  frequency  with  which  it  is  denounced 
by  the  Councils  of  the  Church.  The  Council  of  Co- 
lognCy  held  in  1807,  was  especially  severe  in  its 
reprobation  of  the  custom  by  which  nuns  abandoned 
for  a  time  the  conventual  life  for  a  career  of  debauch- 
ery and  then  resumed  their  former  relations  with  the 
Church,  without  repentance,  and,  what  was  even  worse, 
without  remonstrance  from  their  superiors. 

For  indulgence  in  these  pleasures  prohibited  by  the 
laws  of  God  and  man,  the  revenues  of  the  religious 
houses,  although  in  many  instances  enormous,  were 
entirely  inadequate.  The  extravagant  demands  of  the 
Holy  See,  which  collected  its  tribute  at  frequent  and 
irregular  intervals,  further  reduced  the  financial  re- 
sources of  the  monastic  treasury.  The  ingenuity  of 
the  abbots  was  not  at  a  loss,  however,  to  devise  means 
to  replenish  their  exhausted  coffers.  Noble  forests, 
many  of  them  contemporaneous  with  the  reign  of  the 
Druidical  priesthood,  were  cut  down  and  sold.  Chal- 
ices, patens,  ciboria,  and  crucifixes  were  placed  in 
pawn  with  Jewish  goldsmiths  and  merchants.  Jewels 
were  extracted  from  votive  offerings  and  altar  orna- 
ments and  disposed  of  at  a  fraction  of  their  real  value. 
These  thefts  of  sacred  articles  were  so  serious  that 
inventories  of  the  furniture  and  utensils  of  cathedrals 
were  often  taken  by  the  orders  of  primates  and  sover- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  851 

eigns,  rather  with  a  view  to  discover  the  losses  than  to 
put  a  stop  to  a  practice  which  under  the  existing  sys- 
tem was  incurable.  Absolutions,  some  forged,  but 
many  genuine,  bearing  the  Papal  seal  and  ready  to 
be  filled  up  with  the  name  of  the  purchaser  and  the 
description  of  the  offence  of  which  he  was  guilty  or 
which  he  was  about  to  commit,  were  at  the  disposal  of 
every  criminal.  The  official  visitors  of  the  English 
abbeys  discovered  in  the  cells  of  recluses  who  were 
popularly  supposed  to  be  laying  up  treasures  in 
heaven  implements  of  the  counterfeiter  and  quantities 
of  spurious  coin.  With  the  ministrations  to  the  dying 
the  duty  of  the  sufferer  to  the  Church  was  unceasingly 
inculcated  by  the  shrewd  confessor,  until  it  came  to 
be  considered  an  act  of  impiety,  ranked  with  sacrilege 
and  suicide,  to  refuse  to  bequeath  a  large  share  of  one's 
wealth  to  the  servants  of  God. 

The  number,  riches,  and  influence  of  these  ecclesias- 
tical establishments  were  enormous.  At  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  there  were  six  hundred  monasteries 
and  convents  in  England,  two  thousand  three  hundred 
and  thirty-seven  in  France,  and  fifteen  hundred  in  the 
remaining  countries  of  Europe.  Many  of  these  sup- 
ported communities  of  more  than  a  thousand  monks; 
that  of  the  great  Abbey  of  Bangor — ^the  largest  in 
Great  Britain — ^numbered  three  thousand.  Towns, 
villages,  and  immense  tracts  of  arable  soil,  pasture, 
and  forest  were  included  in  their  possessions.  Multi- 
tudes of  tenants  and  vassals  tilled  these  lands,  the 
lion's  share  of  whose  produce  found  its  way  into  the 
storehouses  and  granaries  of  the  prosperous  Fathers. 
The  religious  duties  of  the  latter  did  not  hinder  them 
from  profiting  by  the  advantages  of  domestic  and 
foreign  trade.  They  bought  and  sold  almost  every  de- 
scription of  merchandise.  The  usurious  rates  of  in- 
terest which  they  obtained  from  necessitous  borrowers 
extorted  the  admiration  of  the  shrewd  and  experienced 


852  HiSTOEY   OF  THE 

Hebrew  broker.  They  managed  tanneries,  dealt  ex- 
tensively in  cloth  and  leather,  and  imported  many 
luxuries  from  the  Orient.  The  wool  market  of  Eng- 
land was  absolutely  controlled  by  them.  The  popular 
clamor  aroused  by  this  monopoly,  which  dispossessed 
and  ruined  tenants  by  turning  tillable  land  into  past- 
ure and  depriving  large  numbers  of  industrious  people 
of  the  means  of  livelihood,  contributed,  in  no  small 
degree,  to  the  suppression  of  the  English  monasteries. 
An  inexhaustible  mine  of  wealth  was  made  available 
by  traffic  in  relics  and  the  entertainment  and  fleecing 
of  pilgrims.  The  methods  of  the  Holy  See  in  the 
sale  of  sacred  objects  of  more  than  doubtful  authen- 
ticity were  improved  upon  by  the  cunning  and  au- 
dacity of  monkish  charlatans.  Immense  quantities  of 
bones  were  imported  from  Italy  and  disposed  of  to 
the  devout  at  fabulous  prices.  Most  of  these  sacred 
treasures  were  taken  from  the  catacombs,  where  was 
deposited  a  practically  unlimited  supply  of  Pagan  and 
barbarian  skeletons,  whose  original  owners  never 
dreamed  of  the  adoration  they  were  destined  one  day 
to  receive  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  the  Seine,  the 
Rhine,  and  the  Danube.  When  a  church  was  to  be 
constructed,  no  difficulty  was  ever  experienced  in  pro- 
curing the  relics  of  the  saint  to  which  it  was  dedicated, 
and  the  mouldering  remains  of  some  priest  of  Jupiter 
or  Venus  were  probably  not  infrequently  laid,  with 
every  token  of  reverence,  under  the  altar  of  a  magnifi- 
cent cathedral,  whose  idolatrous  ceremonies  would 
have  presented  many  striking  points  of  resemblance 
with  heathen  rites  to  the  frequenters  of  the  ancient 
temples.  Other  sacred  mementos  of  equal  virtue 
often  presented  a  singular  mixture  of  absurdity  and 
blasphemy.  The  reproductions  of  the  crown  of  thorns 
and  the  nails  of  the  Crucifixion  were  infinite  in  num- 
ber. The  list  included  the  coals  that  roasted  St.  Law- 
rence, the  cloth  used  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  a  finger 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubope  858 

of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  some  of  the  milk  of  the 
Mother  of  God.  The  tail  of  Balaam's  ass  was  for  a 
century  one  of  the  most  precious  treasures  of  St,  John 
Lateran  at  Rome.  When  the  zeal  of  the  pious 
flagged,  the  genius  of  the  monks  resorted  to  extraor- 
dinary means  to  stimulate  this  unprofitable  apathy. 
The  sympathies  and  fanaticism  of  the  superstitious 
were  appealed  to  by  processional  images  which  could 
weep  and  bleed.  Letters  were  exhibited  purporting  to 
have  been  penned  by  the  divine  hands  of  the  Almighty 
and  the  Saviour.  The  composition  and  style  of  these 
productions,  it  may  be  remarked,  indicate  an  extraor- 
dinary degree  of  illiteracy  in  the  exalted  personages 
to  whom  their  execution  was  profanely  attributed. 
Many  relics  were  supposed  to  possess  marvellous 
healing  virtues,  an  opinion  diligently  propagated  by 
those  whose  interest  it  was  to  have  it  generally  enter- 
tained. Pilgrims  crowded  in  enormous  numbers  to 
these  shrines,  whose  reputation  promised  speedy  and 
certain  relief  from  every  physical  infirmity.  As  few 
came  empty  handed,  the  contents  of  a  single  reliquary 
were  often  a  more  important  source  of  revenue  than 
all  the  royal  demesnes  of  a  kingdom.  In  the  Middle 
Ages  the  Church  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  was 
by  far  the  richest  in  Christendom.  It  had  for  three 
hundred  years  received  the  tribute  of  pilgrims  from 
every  land.  Kings  had  placed  crowns  and  priceless 
jewels  upon  its  altar.  The  great  tomb  of  the  saint 
was  entirely  covered  with  plates  of  gold,  but  the  pre- 
ciouis  metal  was  hardly  visible  on  account  of  the  profu- 
sion of  gems  with  which  it  was  incrusted.  The  value  of 
the  gold  and  silver  obtained  by  its  confiscation  under 
Henry  VIII.  was  nearly  one  million  pounds  sterling, 
and  this  estimate  did  not  include  the  precious  stones, 
of  which  no  appraisement  was  made.  Much  of  this 
wealth  had  been  accumulated  by  the  thrifty  monks 
through  the  sale  of  water  alleged  to  contain  a  portion 

Vol.  III.— 03 


854  History  of  the 

of  the  blood  of  St.  Thomas  shed  at  the  time  of  his 
martyrdom,  whose  supply,  by  the  miraculous  power 
of  multiplication  enjoyed  by  certain  relics,  was  never 
exhausted,  and  which,  aided  by  implicit  faith  and  re- 
ligious enthusiasm,  may  really  have  been  instrumental 
in  temporarily  relieving  diseases  induced  by  disordered 
functions  of  the  nervous  system. 

The  power  of  the  rulers  of  these  populous  commu- 
nities was  very  extensive.  In  most  instances  the  abbot 
enjoyed  not  a  few  of  the  highest  privileges  of  the 
nobiUty.  In  addition  to  his  spiritual  functions,  he  ex- 
ercised the  duties  of  a  civil  and  criminal  magistrate, 
and  in  extreme  cases  could  inflict  the  penalty  of  death. 
He  was  expected  to  act  as  sponsor  to  children  of  royal 
lineage.  While  bound  to  observe  the  rules  of  his  order, 
his  interpretation  of  those  rules  was  final  and  his  de- 
cision absolute.  In  England,  if  entitled  to  wear  the 
mitre,  he  sat  in  the  Upper  House  of  Parliament  by 
the  side  of  the  bishops.  Usually  he  was  a  veritable 
epicurean,  more  fond  of  field  sports  than  of  his 
breviary,  a  jovial  companion,  a  connoisseiu*  of  wines, 
an  adorer  of  women.  His  table,  his  attire,  and  his 
habits  exhibited  all  the  fastidiousness  of  a  sybarite. 
Numerous  dishes,  prepared  by  skilful  cooks,  tempted 
his  pampered  tastes.  The  wines  of  his  cellar  were 
the  choicest  and  most  expensive  in  the  market.  His 
garments  were  sometimes  of  party-colored  and  em- 
broidered silk,  sometimes  of  scarlet  cloth  lined  with 
white  satin.  His  boots,  of  the  softest  leather,  fitted 
his  burly  limbs  without  a  wrinkle.  Jewels  sparkled 
upon  his  snowy  fingers.  The  retainers  of  his  house- 
hold were  clad  in  gaudy  liveries.  He  maintained 
jesters  and  bufi^oons.  To  the  noble  amusement  of 
hawking  he  was  so  devoted,  and  his  falcons  were  so 
excellent,  that  for  these  reasons  he  often  inciured  the 
envy  of  his  aristocratic  companions  and  the  severe 
censure   of  his  more  rigid   ecclesiastical   superiors. 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  855 

Troops  of  strolling  players  always  found  a  welcome 
and  munificent  largess  for  their  exhibitions  in  the 
great  hall  of  the  abbey.  In  addition  to  the  nuns,  of 
whom  he  was  the  especial  patron,  high-bom  ladies  were 
delighted  to  receive  his  amorous  compliments  and  to 
partake  of  his  dangerous  but  splendid  hospitality. 

The  inmates  of  the  religious  houses  entertained  far 
closer  relations  with  the  great  body  of  the  population 
than  did  the  secular  clergy.  The  original  simplicity 
of  their  lives,  the  apparent  fervor  of  their  devotion, 
acquired  for  them  a  peculiar  sanctity  which  their  sub- 
sequent irregularities  could  never  entirely  abrogate. 
Unlike  the  secular  priesthood,  whose  traditions  were 
of  an  aristocratic  tendency,  their  necessities  and  their 
ministrations  brought  them  in  intimate  contact  with  the 
lower  orders  of  the  people,  who  repaid  their  services 
with  fulsome  idolatry.  Of  the  two  divisions  of  the 
regular  clergy,  the  friars,  who  only  differed  from  the 
monks  in  that  they  subsisted  on  alms,  enjoyed  the 
greater  consideration.  Their  blessing  was  earnestly 
solicited  by  the  traveller  on  the  highway.  Ladies  wore 
their  rope  girdles  in  Lent,  partly  by  way  of  penance, 
partly  as  amulets  of  sovereign  virtue  against  the 
machinations  of  evil  spirits.  The  spurious  relics  which 
they  hawked  about  were  supposed  to  be  endowed  with 
more  miraculous  qualities  than  those  retailed  by  the 
bishop  in  the  cathedral.  Their  eloquence  carried  with 
its  pathetic  appeals  and  homely  illustrations  a  convic- 
tion denied  to  the  labored  efforts  of  the  most  accom- 
plished and  popular  preacher. 

It  was  not  within  the  power  of  human  nature  to 
long  withstand  the  allurements  which  such  opportuni- 
ties for  luxurious  indulgence  afforded.  Within  less 
than  half  a  century  from  their  foundation,  the  mendi- 
cant friars  of  St.  Francis  could  boast  of  wealth  equal 
to  that  of  any  of  the  monastic  orders.  Their  common 
appellation  Cordelier,  derived  from  their  hempen 


856  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

girdle,  became  a  synonym  of  lubricity  and  drunken- 
ness. Both  monks  and  friars  enticed  wives  from  their 
husbands,  and  not  infrequently  reduced  the  latter  to 
l^^ggfi'iy*  They  administered  narcotics  and  aphrodisi- 
acs to  nuns,  and  pointed  to  their  contortions  and  in- 
coherent ravings  as  the  ejBFects  of  divine  inspiration. 
It  was  an  ordinary  occurrence  for  young  girls  to  don 
male  attire  and  take  up  their  abode  in  a  monastery; 
and  a  memorial  of  the  time  of  Henry  VII.  of  Eng- 
land is  extant  in  which  the  royal  protection  is  sohcited 
by  the  farmers  and  gentry  of  Carnarvonshire  against 
the  dissolute  practices  of  the  regular  clergy.  The 
profanity  of  the  monks  during  the  celebration  of  the 
mass,  and  their  offensive  language  in  the  confessional, 
sometimes  resulted  in  temporary  suspension  from 
those  sacerdotal  functions.  Gaming  was  a  common 
amusement  in  which  even  abbesses  had  been  known  to 
indulge.  Whenever  an  abbot  died  the  treasury  was 
plimdered,  and  its  contents  distributed  among  the 
brethren  fortunate  enough  to  be  present. 

These  excesses  were  encouraged  by  the  insignificant 
penances  imposed  for  their  commission.  Some  escaped 
with  a  reprimand,  especially  when  the  prior  was  known 
to  be  equally  guilty.  Among  the  English  clergy,  mor- 
tal sin  could  be  condoned  for  the  trifling  sum  of  six 
shillings  and  eight  pence.  Bearing  a  crucifix  through 
the  aisles  of  the  church  and  a  fine  of  three  shillings 
and  four  pence  entitled  a  delinquent  to  absolution  for 
incest.  Fornication  was  expiated  by  an  offering  of 
candles  and  the  repetition  of  a  few  Paters  and  Aves. 
As  in  the  case  of  the  laity,  a  regular  schedule  existed, 
accurately  defining  the  pimishments  to  be  inflicted  for 
every  degree  of  ecclesiastical  misconduct. 

The  ordinary  criminal  courts  of  judicature,  through 
the  operation  of  privileges  extorted  from  stupid  and 
fanatical  sovereigns  by  the  astuteness  of  designing 
churchmen  and  the  prejudices  of  a  superstitious  age. 


Moorish  Emfike  in  Eubofe  857 

had  no  authority  over  a  derk  until  he  had  heen  con- 
demned hy  a  religious  tribunal.  The  course  of  prose- 
cution, in  which  the  sympathies  of  the  judges  were 
enlisted  on  the  side  of  the  culprit,  through  the  bond 
of  a  common  profession,  and  often  by  reason  of 
participation  in  similar  offences,  was  always  slow  and 
sometimes  interminable.  By  these  delays,  and  the 
purposely  complicated  process  of  the  spiritual  courts, 
the  civil  statutes  were  practically  nuUified.  The  mu- 
tual antagonism  of  the  lay  and  clerical  professions 
indirectly  encouraged  the  most  revolting  crimes.  As 
the  learning  of  Europe  was  monopolized  by  the 
clergy,  every  one  who  was  able  to  read  was  deemed 
a  "  clerk,"  and  could  demand  the  interference  and 
protection  of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  in  case  of 
arrest.  The  tonsure  was  also  regarded  as  prima-f  acie 
evidence  of  being  in  orders,  and  of  equal  efficacy  in 
obtaining  immimity,  as  many  of  the  priesthood  were 
ignorant  of  letters.  By  taking  advantage  of  these 
privileges,  so  dangerous  to  the  welfare  of  society,  des- 
perate malefactors  continually  escaped  the  conse- 
quences of  their  deeds ;  and  the  criminal,  whose  scanty 
learning  or  shaven  crown  suggested  a  connection  with 
the  aU-powerful  hierarchy,  was  demanded  in  vain  by 
the  official  avengers  of  the  outraged  laws.  The  benefit 
of  clergy  was  carried  to  such  extremes  in  England 
that  Parliament  found  it  necessary  on  one  occasion  to 
proceed  by  bill  of  attainder  against  the  Bishop  of 
Rochester's  cook,  who,  wearing  the  tonsure  and  as- 
sisted by  the  influence  of  his  master,  had  defied  the 
criminal  magistracy  and  tribimals  of  the  realm.  The 
rendition  of  a  triffing  service,  the  payment  of  a  sum  of 
money  proportioned  to  the  means  of  the  appUcant, 
and  which  was  often  the  proceeds  of  the  crime  for 
which  absolution  was  requested,  relieved  the  highway- 
man and  the  murderer  from  all  apprehension  of  the 
penalties  of  secular  justice. 


858  History  of  the 

Thus  had  the  monastic  orders  fatally  degenerated 
from  the  simplicity  and  purity  of  their  original  insti- 
tution. In  common  with  the  other  branches  of  the 
ecclesiastical  profession,  they  had  become  infected 
with  every  vice  and  steeped  in  every  sin.  They  were 
especially  noted  for  their  propensity  to  the  most  dis- 
graceful offences  in  the  calendar  of  human  infirmities, 
— ^to  drunkenness,  fornication,  rape,  and  incest.  Men 
who  habitually  defied  the  canons  of  morality  by  indul- 
gence in  such  practices  must  necessarily  have  enter- 
tained but  little  respect  for  a  system  which,  so  far 
from  restraining,  was  known  to  secretly  encourage 
them.  As  a  consequence,  hypocrisy  prevailed  every- 
where among  the  ministers  of  the  Church,  from  the 
Holy  Father,  l^urrounded  by  the  beauties  of  his 
seraglio,  to  the  mendicant  friar,  who  repaid  the  ser- 
vices of  the  obsequious  peasant  by  the  plunder  of  his 
goods  and  the  corruption  of  his  family.  The  morals 
of  the  ecclesiastic  were,  as  a  rule,  far  worse  than  those 
of  the  layman.  In  Southern  France  it  was  a  custom, 
which  precedent  had  almost  invested  with  the  force  of 
law,  for  a  priest,  after  the  celebration  of  his  first  mass, 
to  invite  his  clerical  friends  to  a  carousal  at  the  nearest 
tavern.  Bishops  read  the  service  in  bed.  The  lower 
clergy  divided  the  solemn  office  of  the  Eucharist  into 
several  parts,  and,  demanding  a  fee  for  each,  quad- 
rupled their  emoluments.  A  French  Council,  in  1817, 
menaced  with  excommunication  any  magistrate  who 
should,  at  soimd  of  trumpet,  expose  priests  in  public, 
with  their  weapons  about  their  necks, — ^an  ordinary 
penalty  for  fighting  and  riotous  conduct.  The  policy 
of  the  Chxu'ch  considered  the  most  flagrant  injustice, 
the  most  atrocious  crime,  as  venial  in  comparison  with 
neglect  of  the  outward  obedience  of  her  rules  and  the 
observance  of  the  formalities  of  her  ritual,  such  as 
rare  attendance  at  mass,  blaspheming  of  relics,  with- 
holding of  tithes,  eating  meat  in  Lent,  labor  on  holi- 


Moorish  Emfibe  in  Eubope  859 

days.  In  the  prosecution  of  the  Templars,  the  articles 
of  accusation  did  not  regard  the  charge  of  inconti- 
nence as  important  in  comparison  with  those  of  athe- 
ism and  idolatry,  although  it  was  notorious  that  more 
than  thirteen  thousand  concubines  were  maintained  at 
the  expense  of  the  priories  of  that  Order  in  Europe. 

The  violation  of  the  vow  of  chastity  was  so  common 
that  only  the  most  outrageous  indecency  could  excite 
comment,  and  the  spiritual  authorities,  whom  the 
Church  had  appointed  to  exercise  a  censorship  over 
public  morals,  hesitated  to  perform  their  duties  lest 
their  own  delinquencies  might  thereby  be  exposed.  It 
was  considered  not  only  meritorious,  but  convenient, 
to  have  a  clergyman  for  a  lover,  on  account  of  the 
facility  of  concealment  and  the  certainty  of  immediate 
absolution.  The  presence  of  the  mistresses  of  bishops, 
priests,  and  canons  insulted  the  wives  of  honest  nobles 
and  burghers  at  coronations  and  tournaments.  The 
vicinity  of  abbeys  and  convents  swarmed  with  the 
natural  children  of  ecclesiastics.  These  members  of 
priestly  households  were  liberaUy  provided  for  from 
revenues  ostensibly  collected  for  pious  uses  and  the 
propagation  of  religious  truth.  So  degraded  had 
some  of  the  monks  become  that  they  utilized  even  the 
House  of  Grod  for  the  basest  purposes.  Guyot  de 
Provins,  a  writer  of  the  thirteenth  century  and  him- 
self the  member  of  a  monastic  fraternity,  relates  that 
he  had  seen  Cistercians  turn  church-yards  into  pigsties 
and  tether  asses  in  chapels.  In  addition  to  immoderate 
indulgence  in  the  strongest  of  wines,  the  successors 
of  Fachomius  and  Antony  held  eating  contests,  in 
which  the  palm  was  awarded  to  the  brother  possess- 
ing the  greatest  abdominal  capacity.  Among  these 
were  the  Glutton  Masses  of  England,  celebrated  five 
times  a  year  in  honor  of  the  Virgin,  when  the  parish 
church  was  made  the  scene  of  the  voracious  exploits 
of  the  priest  and  the  clerks,  who  contended  for  this 


860  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

enviable  distinction  with  an  ardor  that  often  termi- 
nated in  riot.  Every  effort  to  reform  these  depraved 
conmimiities  proved  futile.  The  abbot  who  attempted 
to  correct  the  vices  of  his  flock  was  harassed  until  he 
was  glad  to  relinquish  his  unpromising  task  or  abandon 
his  charge.  If  he  boldly  attempted  to  enforce  his 
authority,  he  stood  an  excellent  chance  of  being  poi- 
soned. The  famous  Abelard  narrowly  escaped  this 
fate,  and  the  pronounced  and  vindictive  hostility  mani- 
fested by  the  inmates  of  his  abbey  finally  compelled 
him  to  insure  his  safety  by  flight.  Even  the  deter- 
mined character  of  Cardinal  Ximenes  was  forced  to 
succumb  to  the  obstinacy  of  his  Franciscan  brethren, 
whose  extortions  and  irregular  lives  had  excited  his 
horror  and  disgust.  For  seven  years,  WiUiam,  Bishop 
of  Paderborn,  employed  in  vain  the  authority  vested 
in  his  high  ofiice  to  free  the  monasteries  of  his  diocese 
from  the  scandal  produced  by  the  vices  of  their  occu- 
pants. 

Much  of  the  corruption  of  the  regular  clergy  was 
to  be  attributed  to  the  impostors  and  malefactors  who 
found  shelter  and  safety  in  their  ranks.  The  assmnp- 
tion  of  the  tonsure  alone  was  sufiicient  to  insure 
immunity  to  the  most  notorious  outlaw.  The  slave, 
impatient  under  the  lash  of  a  cruel  master  or  appre- 
hensive of  the  consequences  of  inexcusable  faults, 
acquired  security  and  freedom  in  the  shadow  of  the 
towers  of  the  abbey.  The  identity  of  the  criminal 
and  the  fugitive,  the  schemes  of  the  hypocrite  and  the 
knave,  were  effectually  disguised  by  the  cowl  of  the 
friar.  The  humane  and  beneficent  privilege  of  sanc- 
tuary was  abused  by  the  reception  and  shelter  of  every 
class  of  dangerous  and  disreputable  offenders  against 
the  public  peace.  Association  with  persons  of  this 
abandoned  character  could  not  fail  to  be  demoralizing, 
even  to  those  of  the  fraternity  who  observed  their 
vows,  and  must  have  still  further  corrupted  the  idle 


MooEiSH  Empibe  in  Eukope  861 

and  the  dissolute   who   had  already  embraced  the 
alluring  and  luxurious  routine  of  conventual  life. 

The  incapacity,  arrogance,  and  debauchery  of  the 
dergy  at  length  grew  intolerable,  even  to  a  bigoted 
and  priest-ridden  people.  The  translation  of  the  Bible 
by  Wyclif ,  the  teachings  of  John  Huss  and  Jerome 
of  Prague,  paved  the  way  for  the  exercise  of  private 
judgment  and  the  privilege  of  independent  thought. 
All  over  Europe  a  reaction  took  place.  It  was  least 
felt  in  Italy,  where  the  masses  had  for  ages  been 
familiar  wilii  the  impostures  and  crimes  of  the  Pa- 
pacy. It  was  most  marked  in  England,  where  the 
grievances  imposed  on  the  laity  by  their  religious  in- 
structors had  become  insufferable,  and  the  wealth  of 
the  kingdom  had  been  absorbed  by  the  creatures  of 
Rome.  The  heresies  of  France  for  a  time  threatened 
the  existence  of  the  hierarchy,  and  were  only  sup- 
pressed by  a  crusade  and  the  diaboUcal  energy  of  the 
Inquisition.  Reverence  for  every  form  of  belief  had 
been  shaken  by  the  universal  prevalence  of  sacerdotal 
iniquity.  In  Provence  and  Languedoc  priests  were 
insulted  by  the  mob  and  lampooned  by  minstrels. 
Their  services  were  rejected  with  contempt,  their  ges- 
tures were  mocked,  their  vices  satirized  with  pitiless 
severity.  The  English  populace,  exasperated  beyond 
measure  by  their  wrongs,  occasionally  proceeded 
to  acts  of  violence.  In  some  towns  an  ecclesiastic 
was  hardly  safe  on  the  streets.  No  clerk  dared  to 
commit  himself  or  his  cause  to  the  verdict  of  a  jury. 
A  handful  of  worshippers  was  lost  in  the  nave  of  the 
cathedral,  where  thousands  once  had  congregated. 
Women  went  imshriven  rather  than  trust  themselves 
in  the  confessional,  whose  precincts,  from  being  the 
abode  of  religious  advice  and  consolation,  had  grown 
dangerous  to  the  preservation  of  feminine  honor.  In 
1746  a  remonstrance  was  made  to  the  Primate  of 
England  against  the  participation  of  women  in  pil- 


862  History  of  the 

grimages»  as  the  cities  of  France,  Lombardy,  and  the 
Rhine  were  filled  with  coini:esans,  who  had  abused 
these  opportunities  for  the  exhibition  of  religious  zeal. 
The  authority  of  the  ecclesiastical  tribunals  was  openly 
defied,  their  proceedings  derided,  their  judges  in- 
sulted, their  subordinate  officers  maltreated.  In  Lon- 
don, towards  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  it  was 
a  serious  matter  to  attempt  to  serve  a  process  of  the 
Consistorial  Court.  The  power  for  evil  of  this  once 
formidable  engine  of  persecution,  which  had  exercised 
an  ofi^ensive  censorship  over  every  community,  had 
become  hopelessly  impaired. 

Of  such  a  character  were  the  religious  instructors  of 
the  people  of  Western  Christendom  for  five  hundred 
years.  The  original  austerity  of  the  monastic  orders 
had  disappeared.  In  no  instance  had  it  actually  sur- 
vived the  first  century  dating  from  the  institution  of 
any  ecclesiastical  fraternity.  With  it  had  departed  by 
far  the  greater  portion  of  its  capacity  for  usefulness. 
The  daily  lives  of  the  secular  priesthood  presented  dis- 
gusting examples  of  human  depravity.  Among  the 
laity,  the  rich,  at  least,  were  secure  from  damnation; 
for  by  a  judicious  and  liberal  offering  and  the  deposit 
of  a  schedule  of  their  sins  under  the  altar-cloth  of 
a  compassionate  saint,  in  a  few  hours  the  sheet  was 
f  oimd  to  be  blank  and  the  generous  penitent,  by  the 
inmiediate  intercession  of  his  patron,  was  absolved 
from  the  consequences  of  his  transgressions  without 
the  delay  or  the  exposure  of  confession.  The  foun- 
dation of  a  religious  house  was  often  derived  from 
the  fears  or  the  repentance  of  a  wealthy  and  supersti- 
tious sinner.  An  immense  tract  of  unimproved  land 
was  conveyed  to  a  colony  of  monks.  In  the  most 
sequestered  spot,  far  removed  from  the  turmoil,  the 
vanities,  and  the  temptations  of  the  world,  an  unpre- 
tending structure,  composed  of  wattled  boughs  and 
thatched  with  straw  or  rushes,  was  constructed.    The 


MoosiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  868 

surrounding  forest  was  stocked  with  game.  A  neigh- 
boring lake  or  streamlet  furnished  a  supply  of  fish. 
In  many  fraternities,  however,  such  food  was  for- 
bidden, for  the  austerity  of  discipline  sometimes  per- 
mitted nothing  but  a  meagre  diet  of  herbs  and  pulse 
washed  down  with  water.  The  obligations  of  their 
profession  as  well  as  the  necessity  of  sustenance  re- 
quired that  a  portion  of  their  time  should  be  spent  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  A  niunber  of  the  brethren 
labored  in  the  fields  while  the  others  attended  to  the 
domestic  and  sacred  duties  enjoined  by  their  monastic 
vows.  In  some  monkish  abodes  the  voice  of  praise  was 
never  silent.  Relays  of  choristers  occupied  the  chapel 
without  intermission  day  or  night.  The  summons  to 
devotion  were  frequent.  To  preserve  decorum,  spies 
were  appointed  to  report  irregularities  of  conduct 
within  the  monastery.  No  monk  was  permitted  to 
leave  its  precincts  without  a  companion,  that  each 
might  restrain  the  other  from  the  indulgence  in  sinful 
thoughts  and  carnal  recreations.  In  the  cloister  the 
recluse  was  constantly  reminded  of  the  requirements 
and  obligations  of  his  profession  by  the  fervent  exhor- 
tations of  his  superior  and  the  enforced  observance  of 
silence,  meditation,  and  prayer.  By  self -infliction  of 
grievous  penances, — scourging,  fasting,  wearing  of 
shirts  of  haircloth  or  mail,  immersion  in  water  of  icy 
coldness, — ^worldly  temptations  and  sensual  desires 
were  effectually  suppressed,  and  mind  and  body  were 
devoted  to  the  ostensible  and  original  objects  of  mon- 
achal life, — ^the  service  and  the  glorification  of  God. 

In  time  their  modest  and  contracted  habitations 
became  too  small  to  accommodate  the  increasing  num- 
bers or  to  satisfy  the  ambitious  zeal  of  the  pious  breth- 
ren. The  wealth  derived  from  the  assiduous  cultiva- 
tion of  their  lands,  the  profits  of  their  trade,  the  con- 
tributions of  royal  visitors,  and  the  generosity  of  their 
founders  enabled  them  to  erect  buildings  whose  im- 


864  HiSTOBT  OF  THE 

posing  proportions  and  exquisite  ornamentation  are 
the  delight  and  the  despair  of  modem  architects.  The 
chiu-ch  dedicated  to  a  certain  saint  was  f  omided  on  the 
day  preserved  by  tradition  as  the  date  of  his  birtli.  A 
vigil  was  maintained,  and  when  the  first  rays  of  the 
sun  reddened  the  horizon  the  work  was  commenced. 
As  the  point  where  that  luminary  appeared  was  taken 
for  the  east,  on  account  of  the  constantly  varying  posi- 
tion of  the  sun  in  the  heavens  there  are  but  few  eccle- 
siastical edifices  constructed  during  the  Middle  Ages 
whose  walls  correspond  with  the  four  cardinal  points 
of  the  compass.  In  the  ranks  of  the  reUgious  brother- 
hoods were  to  be  found  artisans  of  every  description, 
whose  professional  efi^orts  were  prompted  and  encour- 
aged by  the  inspiring  spirit  of  religious  devotion. 
Such  were  the  dimensions  of  these  magnificent  struct- 
ures that  the  chapels  of  many  abbeys — such  as  St. 
Albans,  Southwell,  St.  Ouen,  Durham,  Canterbury — 
are  now  cathedral  churches  of  some  of  the  richest  dio- 
ceses of  France  and  England.  The  architectural 
splendor  of  Westminster  is  familiar  to  every  traveller. 
The  buildings  included  in  the  great  Cistercian  Abbey 
of  Tinteme,  which  were  enclosed  by  a  wall,  were  dis- 
tributed over  thirty-four  acres.  The  symmetry  and 
beauty  of  the  Gothic  temples  of  Normandy  are  un- 
impaired and  unrivalled  after  the  revolutions  of  more 
than  seven  centuries.  The  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction 
of  some  sees  extended  over  as  many  as  seven  thousand 
mansi,  or  cottages  of  serfs;  those  who  only  received 
the  tribute  of  two  thousand  were  so  niunerous  as  to  be 
comparatively  insignificant. 

All  the  possessions  of  the  clergy  were  exempt  from 
taxation.  Tithes,  at  first  limited  to  a  tenth  of  the 
products  of  the  soil,  were,  by  ecclesiastical  artifice  and 
Papal  rapacity,  extended  and  made  to  include  the 
entire  yield  of  every  crop,  the  increase  of  every  herb, 
the  labor  of  every  artisan.    Without  taking  into  ac- 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  865 

count  the  territorial  area  in  the  hands  of  the  See  of 
Rome  at  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  the  monastic 
guilds  and  corporations  had  absorbed  half  of  the 
livings  of  Great  Britain.  The  revenues  of  some  re- 
ligious f oimdations  in  that  country  were  not  less 
than  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterling,  reckoning  vol- 
untary donations  alone.  In  the  thirteenth  century  the 
English  clergy  bore  to  the  laity  the  ratio  of  one  to  f  oiu* 
hundred  in  number,  while  their  lands  amounted  to 
thirty-three  per  cent,  of  the  entire  real  property  of  the 
kingdom.  In  Spain  dming  the  same  period  the  pro- 
portion of  ecclesiastics  was  one  to  seven,  and  fifty  per 
cent,  of  the  landed  possessions  under  Christian  control 
belonged  to  them.  The  pressing  necessities  of  grasp- 
ing and  irreverent  princes,  who  did  not  scruple  to 
appropriate  under  various  pretexts  the  riches  of  the 
ecclesiastical  order,  alone  prevented  the  eventual  ex- 
clusion of  the  laity  of  Europe  from  all  ownership  of 
or  jurisdiction  over  the  soil. 

No  religious  service  could  be  more  solemn,  no  spec- 
tacle more  awe-inspiring,  than  the  celebration  of  a 
Church  festival  in  one  of  the  grand  old  abbey  chapels 
in  mediaeval  times.  The  edifice  itself  was  the  ideal  of 
architectural  beauty.  Through  the  elegant  designs 
of  painted  windows,  the  light,  in  iridescent  hues,  shone 
in  tempered  radiance  over  the  richly  sculptured  tombs 
of  prelate  and  crusader  and  the  checkered  pavement 
brilliant  with  its  graceful  patterns  of  tile  and  marble 
mosaic.  The  walls  of  nave  and  transept  were  hung 
with  tapestry,  embroidered  sometimes  with  represen- 
tations of  scriptural  events,  sometimes  with  the  fig- 
ures of  departed  abbots  or  the  portraits  of  a  line  of 
famous  kings.  The  altar,  before  whose  holy  presence 
constantly  burned  rows  of  waxen  tapers,  glittered 
with  ornaments  bestowed  by  the  hand  of  opulent 
piety  and  massive  reliquaries  set  with  priceless  gems. 
The  resounding  notes  of  the  Gregorian  chant  filled 


866  HisroBY  of  the 

the  air;  the  officiating  monks  in  splendid  vestments, 
the  pomp  of  crucifix  and  incense,  added  to  the  impres- 
siveness  of  the  ceremonial  and  imparted  to  the  scene  a 
striking  representation  of  divine  worship  which  could 
hardly  be  paralleled  in  Rome  itself.  Truly,  in  its 
palmy  days  the  monastery  was  an  important  adjunct 
to  Papal  power  and  grandeur  1 

From  the  consideration  of  the  manifold  vices  and 
flagrant  corruption  with  which  the  life  of  monastic 
institutions  was  tainted,  it  becomes  a  pleasure  to  enu- 
merate the  benefits  that  these  establishments  conferred 
upon  humanity.  First  in  importance  is  the  fact  that 
they  were  the  depositories  of  learning  during  the  Dark 
Ages.  The  requirements  of  the  sacred  profession, 
whose  dogmas  they  were  designed  to  uphold  and  prop- 
agate, demanded  the  possession  of  some  degree  of 
knowledge.  The  standard  of  intelligence  was  far 
higher  in  the  monastery  than  in  the  chapter  house  of 
the  cathedral  or  in  the  episcopal  palace.  Many  of  the 
secular  clergy  could  neither  read  nor  write;  tiieir  ex- 
position of  the  sacraments  was  pronounced  in  an  inco- 
herent jargon,  and  a  canon  who  understood  grammar 
was  an  object  of  general  wonder  and  respect.  The 
lewd  and  profane  character  of  the  discourses  from 
the  pulpit  was  often  such  that  it  would  not  be  toler- 
ated for  an  instant  by  the  fastidious  delicacy  of  a 
modem  audience.  The  enjoyment  of  abundant  lei- 
siu*e,  the  praiseworthy  impulse  of  accumulating  infor- 
mation which  might  prove  of  advantage,  both  in 
disseminating  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  and  in  mag- 
nifying the  importance  of  their  order,  actuated  a  cer- 
tain number  of  the  inmates  of  every  cloister  to  the 
transcription  of  books,  to  the  study  of  authors,  to  the 
illumination  of  missals.  Some  wrote  poems  in  Latin. 
Others,  like  Hrotswitha,  the  German  nun  of  Ganders- 
heim,  composed  dramas  in  imitation  of  the  classics. 
These  literary  efforts,  while  often  coarse  in  sentiment. 


MOOBISH  EmPIBE  IK  EXTSOFE  867 

immoral  in  tendency,  and  crude  in  execution,  seem 
prodigies  of  learning  when  we  recall  the  dense  atmos- 
phere of  ignorance  in  which  they  were  produced.    In 
the  abhey  were  preserved  contemporaneous  records 
not  only  of  all  transactions  in  which  that  institution 
was  concerned,  but  also  many  details  of  affairs  of 
national  interest,  which  furnished  in  after  ages  inval- 
uable data  to  the  historian.    In  many  convents  there 
existed  schools  where  novices  as  well  as  the  chil- 
dren of  the  peasantry  could  receive  rudimentary  in- 
struction.    Books,  among  which  is  mentioned  the 
Fables  of  ^sop,  were  chained  to  tables  in  the  halls 
for  the  benefit  of  those  pupils.     The  great  impulse 
given  to  intellectual  progress  by  Wyclif 's  incomplete 
translation  of  the  Bible  in  the  fourteenth  century  is 
indicated  by  the  ludicrous  complaint  of  an  old  monk- 
ish chronicler,  who  lamented  that  "  Women  are  now 
grown  more  versed  in  the  New  Testament  than 
learned   clerks."     Coincident  with   that  auspicious 
event,  the  monopoly  of  letters,  so  long  enjoyed  and 
perverted  by  the  clergy,  came  to  an  end.    In  cases 
where  the  interests  of  religion  were  thought  to  be  im- 
perilled, the  mobks  did  not  hesitate  to  obstruct  the 
path  of  knowledge.     Through  their  influence  the 
study  of  physics  and  of  law  was  forbidden  in  the 
twelfth  century  to  the  students  of  the  University  of 
Montpellier.     In  contradistinction  to  this  spirit  of 
offensive  bigotry,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
first  printing-presses  used  in  Europe  weie  placed  in 
monasteries. 

The  seclusion  of  monasticism  encouraged  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  the  love  of  the  arts.  In  beauty  of 
design  and  completeness  of  finish  the  efforts  of  the 
Grothic  architect  have  never  been  surpassed.  Book- 
making  was  carried  to  an  advanced  state  of  perfection. 
Prom  unwieldy  volumes  with  wooden  leaves,  bound 
in  leaden  covers,  manuscripts  developed  into  the  ex- 


868  History  of  the 

quisite  specimens  of  calligraphic  and  decorative  ele^ 
gance  so  prized  by  modem  collectors.  Some  were 
written  in  gold  and  silver  letters  on  purple  vellum- 
The  illmninations — ^whence  was  derived  the  first  in- 
spiration of  modem  painting — ^were  often  the  work 
of  years.  The  bindings  were  of  carved  ivory  or  of 
the  precious  metals,  not  infrequently  enriched  with 
jewels.  Those  volumes  destined  for  the  service  of  the 
altar  sometimes  enclosed  a  reliquary  and  became 
doubly  precious,  as  well  by  reason  of  the  sacred  me- 
mento they  contained  as  on  account  of  their  costly 
materials  and  the  labor  expended  upon  them.  The 
art  of  the  sculptor  owes  much  to  the  diligence  and 
skill  displayed  by  the  mediaeval  wood-carver,  whose 
handiwork  is  visible  in  the  stalls  and  altar-screens 
of  Gothic  cathedrals.  The  embroidered  vestments 
wrought  by  nuns  during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries  are  marvels  of  ornamentation,  patience,  and 
dexterity.  Constant  practice  in  the  choir  led  to  a  con- 
siderable advance  in  the  knowledge  of  poetry  and 
music.  Nor  were  philosophical  pursuits,  despite  their 
confessed  antagonism  to  the  Church,  altogether  neg- 
lected. The  name  and  acquirements  of  Pope  Syl- 
vester II.  were  to  his  contemporaries  as  well  as  to 
posterity  long  suggestive  of  a  compact  with  the  Devil 
and  the  practice  of  magic.  Modem  science,  in  its  in- 
discriminate censure  of  mona^ticism,  should  not  forget 
that  the  great  natm*al  philosophers  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  Albertus  Magnus  and  Roger  Bacon,  belonged 
to  the  orders  of  mendicant  friars,  for  the  one  was  a 
Franciscan  and  the  other  a  Dominican. 

In  the  monastery  was  dispensed  not  only  medical 
aid,  so  far  as  the  rudeness  and  ignorance  of  the  super- 
stitious practitioner  allowed,  but  also  unstinted  and 
gratuitous  hospitality.  The  conventual  establishment 
was  at  once  the  hospital  and  the  hotel  of  mediaeval 
society.     In  the  thinly  peopled  districts  usually  se- 


MooBiSH  Empibe  m  Eueope  869 

lected  by  its  founders,  no  public  provision  was  made 
for  the  relief  of  the  sufferings  of  the  invalid  or  the 
necessities  of  the  traveller,  and  both  found  within  its 
waUs  a  generous  and  cordial  greeting.  Its  sanctuary 
covered  the  trembling  victim  of  feudal  oppression 
with  the  mantle  of  its  comfort  and  protection.  Its 
towers,  secure  in  their  sacred  character,  passed  un- 
scathed through  the  wreck  of  dynasties  and  the  perils 
of  revolutionary  violence.  The  substantial  walls  of 
donjon  and  barbican  went  down  under  the  assaults  of 
Norman,  Saxon,  Dane,  and  Lombard,  but  the  abbey, 
defenceless  save  in  the  immunity  afforded  by  the  holy 
calling  of  its  inmates,  remained  unchanged  amidst 
these  scenes  of  universal  disorder  and  ruin,  the  deposi- 
tory of  ancient  learning,  the  refuge  of  the  remnant 
of  those  elegant  social  courtesies  which  had  survived 
the  fall  of  imperial  greatness,  the  asyliun  of  the  per- 
secuted, the  home  of  the  arts,  the  preserver  of  civiliza- 
tion in  a  martial  and  unenlightened  age. 

While  Rome  was  the  centre  of  ecclesiastical  and 
temporal  power,  Constantinople  was  the  undisputed 
seat  of  the  refinement  and  culture  of  Christian 
Europe.  The  transfer  of  the  government  of  the 
Empire  to  the  confines  of  Asia  had  not,  however, 
destroyed  the  prestige  which  the  Eternal  City  had 
obtained  by  her  glorious  achievements  in  arts,  in  arms, 
in  literature,  in  politics,  during  so  many  centuries. 
The  new  capital  of  the  Caesars  could  not  properly  be 
called  a  Roman  city.  Its  population,  after  the  first 
fifty  years  following  its  foundation,  was  more  Greek 
than  Latin,  but  its  most  distinctive  features  were 
always  Asiatic.  The  ordinary  idiom  of  its  citizens 
was  that  of  Ionia  and  Attica.  The  despotism  of  its 
court,  the  manners  of  its  people,  bore  the  pronounced 
stamp  of  the  Orient.  Its  society  was  cosmopolitan, 
and  the  relations  it  maintained  through  the  channels 

of  trade  with  remote  countries  constantly  filled  its 
Vol-  m.   " 


870  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

thoroughfares  with  picturesque  and  barbaric  costumes. 
The  brutality  of  the  West,  the  vices  of  the  East,  the 
superstitions  of  Africa,  the  cruelty  of  Italy,  found  a 
congenial  home  on  the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus.  The 
successors  of  Constantine  claimed  and  exercised  pre- 
rogatives wholly  inconsistent  with  the  security  of  the 
community  or  the  principles  of  equity.  They  inter- 
posed their  authority  to  annul  the  sentences  of  judicial 
tribunals.  They  inflicted  frightful  tortures  without 
the  warrant  of  law  or  precedent.  They  imposed  taxes 
which  impoverished  even  the  wealthiest  of  their  sub- 
jects. They  permitted  their  flatterers  to  extort  ran- 
soms, trafiic  in  justice,  and  dispose  of  employments 
without  even  the  decorous  pretext  of  concealment. 
The  mutual  hatred  existing  between  the  bloodthirsty 
factions  of  the  capital,  the  ancient  enmity  of  the 
nobles,  the  jealousy  of  rival  princes,  which  had  more 
than  once  caused  disastrous  riots,  the  tiunultuous  fury 
of  the  rabble,  induced  the  emperors  to  habitually  dis- 
trust the  fidelity  of  those  statesmen  whose  birth  and 
education  best  qualified  them  to  direct  the  policy  of 
a  great  empire.  As  a  necessity,  therefore,  eunuchs 
were  intrusted  with  the  management  of  affairs  of 
state  and  filled  the  responsible  ofiices  of  the  imperial 
household.  Surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  dependents 
and  flatterers,  these  monsters  were  the  fountain  of  all 
honor  and  the  recipients  of  all  homage;  while  the 
sovereign  of  the  East,  shorn  of  his  actual  power,  was 
left  to  the  society  of  monks  and  parasites.  An  ex- 
cessive love  of  pomp  and  of  magnificent  attire  was  a 
marked  trait  of  the  Byzantine  character.  The  impe- 
rial train  often  included  more  than  twenty  thousand 
servants,  the  majority  of  whom  were  eimuchs.  The 
eunuch  was  the  most  conspicuous  personage  in  the 
government,  in  the  hierarchy,  in  commercial  adven- 
ture, in  social  amusement,  in  political  intrigue.  He 
discharged  the  functions  of  a  general  often  with 


Moorish  Empire  in  Eubofe  871 

credit,  sometimes  with  consmmnate  skill.  His  secre- 
tive habits  and  demeanor  admirably  fitted  him  for  the 
tortuous  paths  and  insidious  methods  of  diplomatic 
intercourse.  He  was  a  power  in  the  Byzantine  hie- 
rarchy. Members  of  his  caste  were  exalted  to  high 
positions  in  the  ecclesiastical  order.  Some  attained  to 
the  supreme  dignity  of  Patriarch,  an  office  for  cen- 
turies of  greater  importance  than  that  of  Bishop  of 
Rome.  Others  controlled  the  wealthiest  sees  of  the 
Eastern  Church.  Monastic  life  seemed  to  possess  a 
peculiar  attraction  for  them,  and  many  convents  in 
Constantinople  were  peopled  exclusively  by  the  vic- 
tims of  man's  deliberate  cruelty.  Some  of  these  in- 
stitutions contained  nearly  a  thousand  inmates.  The 
prominent  part  taken  by  this  odious  class  in  establish- 
ing the  standard  of  modem  orthodoxy,  through  its  in- 
fluence on  the  ladies  of  the  imperial  household  in  the 
early  days  of  Christianity,  is  familiar  to  every  reader 
of  Church  history.  The  insatiable  avarice  and  rapac- 
ity of  the  eunudi  impelled  him  to  the  accumulation 
of  wealth  through  the  legitimate  channels  of  foreign 
commerce  and  domestic  enterprise,  as  well  as  by  the 
more  questionable  means  of  servility  and  corruption. 
His  ships  were  known  in  every  port  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean. He  was  identified  witli  the  largest  mercantile 
establishments  of  the  capital.  In  every  social  assem- 
bly he  was  conspicuous,  in  every  conspiracy  his  con- 
cealed but  powerful  hand  was  felt.  His  equipage  was 
^6  gayest,  his  train  the  most  imposing  on  the  streets. 
In  the  circus  he  took  precedence  of  haughty  patri- 
cians, whom  he  far  eclipsed  in  splendor  of  costume. 
Ever  with  an  eye  to  his  own  aggrandizement,  he  whis- 
pered treason  in  the  ears  of  the  nobles  and  instigated 
the  rabble  to  revolt.  The  sentiments  of  gratitude,  of 
sympathy,  of  charity,  were  unknown  to  him.  The 
frightful  punishments  inflicted  by  the  court  on  politi- 
cal offenders  were  notoriously  suggested  by  his  malig- 


872  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

nant  genius.  With  the  loss  of  his  procreative  power 
seemed  to  have  vanished  every  trace  of  honor,  of  jus- 
tice, of  humanity,  of  loyalty,  of  devotion.  He  was 
execrated  by  the  Byzantine  populace,  whose  feelings 
were  expressed  by  the  current  saying,  "  If  you  have 
a  eunuch,  kill  him ;  if  you  have  none,  buy  one  and  kill 
him!" 

The  government  of  the  Byzantine  Empire  exhib- 
ited a  curious  mixture  of  irresponsible  power  and  ab- 
ject dependence.  The  emperors  displayed  all  the  in- 
signia and  all  the  arrogance  of  despotism,  while  at  the 
same  time  they  were  really  the  slaves  of  their  para- 
sites. The  career  of  a  sovereign  was  certain  to  be  a 
short  one  if  he  manifested  an  inclination  to  indepen- 
dence and  to  the  assertion  of  his  legal  prerogatives.  In 
the  court  of  Constantinople  poisoning  was  reduced  to 
a  science,  and  eunuchs,  astrologers,  priests,  and  char- 
lataniS  were  ready  instruments  of  ambition  and  re- 
venge. The  formalities  attending  the  intercourse  of 
members  of  the  royal  family  and  tJie  aristocracy  were 
so  complicated  as  to  require  a  long  course  of  study  to 
master  them.  They  were  reduced  to  a  code,  familiar- 
ity with  whose  rules  was  considered  the  greatest  ac- 
complishment of  a  courtier.  AVhile  this  frivolous  cer- 
emonial was  being  sedulously  perfected,  the  constantly 
receding  frontiers  of  the  Empire  were  abandoned  to 
the  encroachments  of  the  barbarians  of  the  Baltic  and 
the  Caspian.  The  state  revenues  were  squandered 
by  ecclesiastics  and  insatiable  favorites.  Rapacious 
tax-collectors  displayed  the  character  and  adopted  the 
customs  of  licensed  brigands.  Their  extortions  be- 
came so  excessive  and  the  distress  of  the  people  was 
so  great  that  three-fourths  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
monarchy  were  oflScially  inscribed  upon  the  public  reg- 
isters as  mendicants. 

From  the  eighth  to  the  twelfth  century  Constanti- 
nople was,  in  all  probability,  the  most  opulent  and 


Moorish  Empibb  in  Eubofe  878 

populous  dty  in  the  world.  It  had  inherited  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  ancient  Roman  capital,  while  it  had  in  a 
great  measure  discarded  the  policy  which  had  made 
those  traditions  famous.  The  most  exquisite  of  the 
works  of  art  that  had  escaped  the  fury  of  the  bar- 
barous hordes  of  Scythia  and  Gaul  had  been  conveyed 
within  its  waUs.  Its  streets  were  lined  with  magnifi- 
cent mansions,  colonnades,  temples.  Everywhere  rose 
suggestive  mementos  of  that  great  power  whose 
name  had  been  renowned  and  feared  from  the  High- 
lands of  Scotland  to  the  banks  of  the  Oxus.  In  forum 
and  garden  the  mean  and  stolid  visages  of  sainted 
monk  and  anchorite  stood  side  by  side  with  the  noble 
busts  and  statues  of  the  most  illustrious  heroes  and 
citizens  of  classic  Rome.  The  royal  palaces  were  mod- 
elled, some  after  the  beautiful  villas  which  had  once 
adorned  the  Campagna,  others  after  plans  suggested 
by  the  Saracen  architects  of  Bagdad.  The  churches 
also  bore  evidence  of  the  imitative  character  of  B3rzan- 
tine  art,  which  borrowed  its  inspiration  from  Greece 
and  the  Orient.  It  is  said  that  in  1408  there  were  three 
thousand  of  them  in  the  city.  Monolithic  columns  of 
different  colored  marble  supported  their  domes, — 
sometimes  as  many  as  five  in  number, — ^roof  ed  with 
tiles  of  gilded  bronze.  Their  walls  were  incrusted 
with  lapis-lazuli  and  jasper.  The  sculpture  in  relief 
was  covered  with  gold.  Elaborate  patterns  of  ara- 
besques in  mosaics  embellished  the  walls  and  formed 
the  pavements.  The  fountains  were  of  silver  and  their 
basins  were  filled  with  wine  instead  of  water,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Byzantine  mob,  whose  struggles  often 
diverted  the  indolent  leisure  of  the  monarch  and  his 
luxurious  court.  A  separate  dwelling  was  used  by  the 
Emperor  during  each  season  of  the  year,  and  the 
appointments  and  furniture  of  each  of  them  were 
adapted  to  the  atmospheric  vicissitudes  of  the  climate 
of  Constantinople.    In  all  the  decorations  of  these 


674  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

sumptuous  edifices  jewels  were  lavished  in  ostenta- 
tious and  semi-barbaric  profusion.  The  perverted  in- 
genuity of  the  Byzantine  inventor  was  expended  in 
the  construction  of  curious  toys  that  might  delight  the 
simplicity  of  childhood,  but  which  could  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  engage  the  attention  of  royalty,  even  in  a 
degenerate  age.  One  of  the  masterpieces  of  these  skil- 
ful artisans  was  a  tree  of  the  precious  metals  with 
foliage  occupied  by  golden  birds,  whose  shrill  notes 
filled  the  halls  of  the  palace.  Notwithstanding  its 
vast  expenditure  of  treasure,  such  were  the  resources 
of  the  Byzantine  monarchy  that  even  after  its  terri- 
tory was  contracted  almost  to  the  walls  of  the  capital, 
it  still  embraced  the  wealthiest  commimity  in  Christen- 
dom. The  unrivalled  commercial  facilities  enjoyed  by 
Constantinople  more  than  counterbalanced  for  cen- 
turies the  disadvantages  of  political  incapacity,  na- 
tional idleness,  and  official  corruption.  The  losses 
resulting  from  ecclesiastical  quarrels,  the  sanguinary 
revolutions  of  political  factions,  the  ravages  of  Cru- 
saders and  the  pestilence  were  speedily  supplied  from 
the  cities  of  Greece  and  the  colonies  of  Asia  Minor. 
The  heterogeneous  elements  of  its  population,  thus 
recruited  from  so  many  sources,  early  caused  it  to  as- 
simie  the  appearance  and  the  character  of  the  most 
cosmopolitan  of  cities ;  and  as  the  capital  was  the  type 
of  the  entire  region  subject  to  the  sovereign,  it  has 
been  remarked,  not  incorrectly,  that  the  Byzantine 
Empire  was  a  government  without  a  nation. 

So  marked,  however,  was  the  religious  and  intel- 
lectual debasement  of  contemporaneous  Europe  that 
the  weakness  and  crimes  of  the  Greek  emperors  passed 
unnoticed  amidst  the  recognized  superiority  of  the 
civilization  which  their  wanton  extravagance  polluted. 
The  extent  and  magnitude  of  their  commerce,  the 
splendor  of  their  embassies,  the  munificence  with 
which  they  rewarded  their  allies,  afforded  the  most 


Moorish  Empise  in  Eubope  875 

exaggerated  ideas  of  their  importance  and  power. 
The  pomp  which  invested  their  presence  concealed  the 
deplorable  conditions  under  whose  restraints  they  were 
compelled  to  direct  the  affairs  of  their  empire.  The 
political  imbecility  of  the  Greeks  was,  therefore,  not 
visible  to  their  neighbors.  These  observed  only  the 
gorgeous  theatrical  effects  which  sustained  the  pres- 
tige of  a  decaying  monarchy,  and  the  alliance  of  the 
princes  of  Constantinople  was  solicited  alike  by  the 
khalifs  of  Bagdad,  Cairo,  and  Cordova,  by  the  em- 
perors of  the  West,  and  by  the  kings  of  England.  In 
the  social  polity  of  the  Greeks  the  court  was  every- 
thing and  the  people  nothing.  The  natural  law  of 
progress,  by  which  man  is  encouraged  to  accumulate 
wealth  by  the  knowledge  that  he  can  enjoy  it  unmo- 
lested, and  is  impelled  to  intellectual  pursuits  through 
the  hope  of  political  advancement, — ^a  law  practically 
annulled  by  the  Caesars  of  Rome, — ^was  entirely  abol- 
ished under  the  emperors  of  Byzantium.  Little  se- 
curity could  be  expected  from  a  government  which 
attempted  to  extorb  from  the  wretched  peasant,  whose 
harvests  had  been  swept  away  by  the  barbarian,  the 
same  tax  demanded  from  the  prosperous  merchant, 
and  made  no  allowance  for  the  destitution  for  which 
its  own  incapacity  and  corruption  were  responsible. 

The  most  pernicious  ideas  relative  to  the  duties  and 
privileges  of  citizenship  had  been  imported  from 
Italy.  The  people  were  divided  into  castes.  The  aris- 
tocracy considered  all  occupations  carried  on  for  profit 
as  disgraceful  to  a  patrician.  It  was  a  maxim  with 
the  populace,  and  one  which  it  would  have  been  dan- 
gerous to  controvert,  that  the  state  owed  it  sustenance 
and  amusement.  In  maintaining  such  a  principle,  the 
lower  classes  could  have  no  motive  for  labor,  and  the 
rabble  of  Constantinople  had  not  forgotten  that  the 
Roman  citizen  who  so  far  disregarded  his  dignity  as 
to  become  an  artisan  was  ignominiously  driven  from 


876  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

his  tribe.  The  only  career  open  to  the  aspiring  ple- 
beian was  through  the  Church.  To  obtain  a  command- 
ing position  in  the  hierarchy,  the  favor  and  assistance 
of  a  eunuch  or  of  a  princess  of  the  royal  family  was 
indispensable.  The  duties  of  the  priesthood  required 
the  possession  of  little  intelligence  and  less  education. 
The  affairs  of  palace  and  cathedral  were  usually  ad- 
ministered by  emasculated  monks,  indebted  for  their 
places  to  the  ostentatious  devotion  or  convenient  ser- 
vility by  which  they  demonstrated  their  usefulness  in 
furthering  the  designs  of  ambitious  patrons.  While 
the  general  licentiousness  which  scandalized  the  papal 
court  did  not  prevail  to  an  equal  extent  among  the 
clergy  of  Constantinople,  the  lives  of  many  of  the 
patriarchs  were  stained  with  vices  equal  in  baseness 
and  impiety  to  any  that  defiled  the  character  of  the 
worst  of  the  pontiffs.  Soldiers,  eunuchs,  parasites, 
and  tools  of  intriguing  statesmen  were  elevatai  in  turn 
to  the  most  eminent  dignity  of  the  Eastern  Church. 
Some  carried  with  them  into  the  episcopal  palace  the 
manners  and  the  license  of  the  camp.  Others,  by  en- 
listing the  services  of  the  monks  and  the  populace, 
fomented  sanguinary  and  disastrous  revolutions. 
Others  again,  by  the  monstrous  extravagance  of  their 
behavior  and  the  irreverence  which  they  displayed  in 
the  discharge  of  their  sacred  functions,  aroused  the 
indignation  and  incurred  the  censtu-e  of  the  devout 
Of  the  latter,  Theophylactus  offers  a  conspicuous  ex- 
ample. The  sale  of  ecclesiastical  preferments  fur- 
nished him  regularly  with  means  for  the  gratification 
of  his  unholy  passions.  He  was  raised  to  the  patri- 
archal throne  of  Constantinople  at  the  age  of  twelve 
years.  He  introduced  into  the  Greek  ritual  absurd 
ceremonies  and  licentious  hymns  which,  strange  to  re- 
late, survived  him  for  almost  two  centuries.  To  this 
practice  are  traceable  the  riotous  and  obscene  festivals 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  when  religion  was  travestied  and 


Moorish  Emfise  in  Europe  877 

the  rites  of  the  Church  profaned  by  license  as  gross 
as  that  which  characterized  the  excesses  of  the  de- 
cadent empire  of  the  Caesars.  He  deprecated  the 
wrath  of  the  Devil  with  heathen  sacrifices.  In  his 
stable  were  two  thousand  horses,  which  were  fed  on 
almonds  and  figs  steeped  in  wine,  regaled  with  costly 
liquors,  and  sprinkled  with  the  most  exquisite  per- 
fumes. Not  infrequently  in  the  midst  of  the  mass  he 
left  his  congregation  to  visit  the  stall  of  some  favorite 
charger.  Could  piety  or  virtue  be  expected  from  a 
people  whose  spiritual  necessities  were  ministered  to 
by  such  a  prelate? 

With  moral  degeneracy  came  also  intellectual  de- 
crepitude. A  scanty  but  inestimable  remnant  of  the 
vast  stores  of  learning  which  had  instructed  and  de- 
lighted the  Pagan  world  had  been  rescued  from  the 
hands  of  the  ruthless  barbarian  and  preserved  on  the 
shores  of  the  Bosphorus.  But  the  scarcity  of  writing 
materials  and  the  ignorance  and  prejudice  of  the  im- 
lettered  ecclesiastics  into  whose  hands  many  of  these 
treasures  fell  insured  their  destruction.  Great  nmn- 
bers  of  the  productions  of  classic  authors  were  erased 
from  the  precious  parchment  to  make  room  for  the 
legendary  miracles  of  fictitious  saints.  Others  per- 
ished by  mould  and  mildew  in  the  dripping  vaults  of 
monasteries  and  churches.  Near  the  Cathedral  of  St. 
Sophia  there  stood  in  the  eighth  century  a  great  basil- 
ica of  unique  and  elegant  design  called  the  Octagon. 
It  was  approached  by  eight  magnificent  porticos  sup- 
ported by  pillars  of  white  marble.  The  edifice  itself 
displayed  the  taste  and  skill  of  the  Grecian  architect, 
whose  type,  while  suggestive  of  the  decline  of  an  art 
once  carried  to  a  perfection  without  parallel,  was,  even 
in  its  decadence,  superior  to  the  masterpieces  of  all 
other  nations.  Erected  by  Constantine  the  Great  for 
purposes  of  religious  worship,  Julian  had  consecrated 
it  to  literature,  had  deposited  within  its  haUs  his  ex- 


878  HisroBY  of  the 

tensive  library,  and  had  established  there  an  academy 
in  imitation  of  the  famous  Musemn  founded  by  the 
Ptolemies  at  Alexandria.  Here  a  corps  of  teachers, 
maintained  at  the  expense  of  the  state,  imparted  in- 
struction gratuitously  on  all  branches  of  theology  and 
the  arts.  The  library  was  open  to  every  student  of 
whatever  creed  or  nationality.  A  number  of  expert 
calligraphists  and  scholars  were  constantly  employed 
in  adding  to  the  collection,  or  in  reproducing  manu- 
scripts that  had  been  damaged  by  abuse  or  neglect 
The  professors  of  this  university — ^the  only  institution 
worthy  of  the  name  in  the  entire  realm  of  the  empire 
— ^were  held  in  the  highest  reverence.  Sometimes  their 
opinions  were  taken  on  important  questions  of  law  and 
diplomacy.  Often  their  mediation  was  solicited  by  the 
heads  of  contending  factions.  By  the  pre-eminence 
of  their  acquirements  and  the  weight  attaching  to  their 
decisions,  they  averted  many  a  national  catastrophe. 
The  incumbents  of  the  most  exalted  places  in  the 
Church  were  frequently  taken  from  their  ranks.  Dur- 
ing the  season  of  its  prosperity  no  institution  of  learn- 
ing outside  of  the  dominions  of  the  khalif  s  wielded  such 
a  salutary  influence  or  was  regarded  with  such  respect 
and  homage  by  all  classes  of  mankind  as  the  Octagon 
of  Constantinople.  In  the  reign  of  Zeno,  when  it  was 
consumed  by  fire,  this  famous  edifice  contained  a 
library  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  volumes. 
Among  the  treasures  lost  in  the  conflagration  was  a 
wonderful  manuscript  of  the  works  of  Homer,  more 
than  one  hundred  feet  long,  composed  of  serpent  skins 
inscribed  with  characters  of  gold.  Restored  by  the 
emperors  to  some  degree  of  its  former  splendor,  Leo 
the  Isaurian,  who,  after  repeated  interviews,  had 
failed  to  convert  to  his  iconoclastic  views  the  teachers 
of  the  University,  determined  to  effectually  silence 
those  who  had  so  signally  refuted  his  arguments.  Se- 
cretly, and  during  the  night,  an  immense  quantity  of 


MooBiSH  Empise  in  Eueofe  879 

combustibles  was  distributed  about  the  building,  the 
torch  was  applied,  detachments  of  troops  prevented 
all  attempts  at  rescue,  and  the  assembled  wisdom  and 
learning  of  the  Byzantine  Empire  perished  in  one  in- 
discriminate ruin.  From  this  inexcusable  act  of  van- 
dalism dates  the  disappearance  of  many  of  the  great- 
est works  of  the  poets,  philosophers,  and  historians  of 
antiquity.  What  the  iconoclast  had  begun  the  cru- 
sader completed.  The  storming  of  the  capital  by  the 
Latins  dealt  another  destructive  blow  to  literature. 
The  martial  fanaticism  of  the  West  saw  nothing  to 
admire  and  much  to  execrate  in  the  immortal  produc- 
tions of  Pagan  genius.  The  ignorant  monks  who  fol- 
lowed in  the  train  of  the  Count  of  Flanders  and  the 
Marquis  of  Montf  errat  showed  scant  consideration  to 
such  of  the  classics  as  fell  into  their  hands.  The  pre- 
cious remains  that  survived  this  age  of  violence,  super- 
stition, and  intellectual  apathy  rested  uncared  for  and 
forgotten  in  the  seclusion  of  private  libraries  and  the 
sacred  recesses  of  the  cloister  until  they  were  resur- 
rected by  the  insatiable  demand  for  knowledge  which 
distinguished  the  people  of  Europe  during  the  fif- 
teenth and  sixteenth  centuries. 

In  every  phase  of  social  as  well  as  of  intellectual 
life,  the  national  inferiority  of  the  Byzantine  was 
manifest.  He  could  copy  with  a  fair  degree  of  skill, 
but  he  could  not  originate.  He  absorbed  little  and 
created  almost  nothing.  The  works  of  art  in  which  he 
took  most  pride  were  rather  indebted  for  their  value 
to  the  nature  of  their  materials  than  to  the  labor  and 
ingenuity  that  had  produced  them.  In  the  style  of 
ornamentation,— especially  as  regards  the  pattern  of 
textile  fabrics  and  tiie  settings  of  jewels, — ^the  Sjrrian 
taste,  which  delighted  in  floral  designs  and  the  forms 
of  grotesque  animals,  predominated.  There  was  little 
in  the  work  of  the  Byzantine  sculptor  to  call  to  mind 
the  simplicity  and  delicacy  that  pre-eminently  distin- 


880  HiSTOSY  OF  THE 

guished  the  exquisite  products  of  the  Attic  chiseL 
Yet  its  imitative  tendency  induced  the  genius  of  the 
Eastern  Empire  to  borrow  from  all  its  neighbors,  and 
especially  from  Greece,  whose  art  had  greatly  retro- 
graded even  before  the  accession  of  Constantine. 
The  adoption  of  Christianity  as  the  religion  of  the 
state  was  most  unfavorable  to  sculpture,  which  was 
associated  by  the  ignorant  with  the  representation  and 
worship  of  the  gods  of  antiquity.  The  term  "  Byzan- 
tine," as  applied  to  decoration,  is  most  comprehensive, 
and,  employed  by  writers  at  will,  has  become  indefinite. 
When  examples  of  this  style  possess  marked  charac- 
teristics, however,  and  can  readily  be  identified,  they 
show  clearly  the  impress  of  foreign  influence,  result- 
ing commercial  activity,  and  intimate  diplomatic  rela- 
tions of  the  Greek  Empire  with  nations  of  the  most 
discordant  customs  and  religious  traditions.  The  mu- 
ral designs  in  mosaic  pecuUar  to  Constantinople,  were 
reproduced  in  temples  dedicated  to  the  ceremonial  of 
widely  difi^erent  creeds,  as  the  Mosque  of  Cordova,  the 
Church  of  St.  Mark  at  Venice,  and  the  Cathedral  of 
St.  Isaac  at  St.  Petersburg. 

The  division  of  society  into  castes  was  the  most 
serious  and  insurmountable  impediment  to  progress 
encountered  by  the  people  of  the  Greek  Empire.  Pub- 
lic opinion  was  voiced  by  the  court  at  the  instigation 
of  the  clergy.  There  was  one  law  for  the  members  of 
the  imperial  household  and  another  for  all  who  did  not 
enjoy  that  adventitious  privilege.  What  was  a  crime 
in  the  citizen  was  scarcely  considered  an  error  in  the 
patrician.  The  tradesmen,  who  to  some  extent  con- 
stituted a  middle  class,  were  not  wealthy  or  influential 
enough  to  own  slaves, — a  criterion  of  social  impor- 
tance,— ^and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  sympathized  with, 
if  they  did  not  actually  support,  the  claims  of  the 
rabble.  The  cultivator  of  the  soil,  uncertain  whether 
he  would  be  permitted  to  enjoy  the  fruit  of  his  labors. 


Moorish  Empibe  m  Europe  881 

through  the  rapacity  of  the  imperial  officials  or  the 
relentless  fury  of  the  barbarians,  pursued  his  useful 
vocation  to  little  purpose.  In  a  region  proverbial  for 
fertility,  under  a  sky  unusually  favorable  to  the 
husbandman,  there  was  no  uniformity  in  the  amount 
of  the  yield,  no  certainty  of  even  a  moderate  harvest. 
Under  the  same  atmospheric  conditions  a  year  of  fam- 
ine often  succeeded  a  year  of  the  greatest  abimdance. 
The  most  lucrative  branch  of  commerce  was  the  slave- 
trade.  The  Saracen  pirates,  who  swarmed  in  the 
Mediterranean,  exchanged  their  captives  in  the  mar- 
kets of  Byzantium  for  Baltic  amber,  Chinese  silks, 
Arabian  spices,  and  Indian  jewels.  These  slaves,  both 
male  and  female,  were  sold  to  Jews,  who  disposed  of 
them  to  the  Moslems  of  Persia,  Egypt,  Mauritania, 
and  Spain.  The  manufacture  of  eunuchs  was  not 
only  a  profitable  industry,  but  was  often  resorted  to 
with  a  view  to  the  future  political  or  ecclesiastical  pro- 
motion of  the  unfortunate  subject.  Parents  muti- 
lated their  children  in  the  hope  that  they  might  rise  to 
the  administration  of  important  dignities  in  the  palace 
or  the  Church.  Unsuccessful  aspirants  to  the  throne 
were  compelled  to  imdergo  this  painful  and  dangerous 
operation,  and  were  then  confined  for  life  in  some 
secluded  monastery.  The  abject  degeneracy  of  the 
nation  further  revealed  itself  by  the  infliction  of  even 
more  inhimian  and  revolting  punishments.  Political 
conspirators  were  flayed  alive.  Vivisection  was  prac- 
tised upon  criminals  not  sufficiently  adroit  or  wealthy 
to  escape  the  vigilance  of  the  magistrate.  Ofi^enders 
guilty  of  public  sacrilege  were  scourged,  crucified,  or 
burnt.  With  the  intellectual  debasement  indicated  by 
the  enjoyment  of  himian  suffering  were  mingled  the 
most  puerile  superstitions.  Every  class  of  society, 
from  the  emperor  to  the  peasant,  was  a  firm  believer 
in  visions,  omens,  auguries.  The  flight  of  birds  was 
observed,  the  entrails  of  a  slaughtered  animal  exam- 


882  HiSTOET  OF  THE 

ined  with  an  eagerness  never  surpassed  by  that  of  the 
votaries  of  Paganism.  The  occurrence  of  an  inau- 
spicious event,  an  unusual  dream,  an  apparent  prod- 
igy* overwhehned  the  unhappy  Byzantine  with  dis- 
may. Still  tinctured  with  the  idolatrous  superstition 
of  his  fathers,  he  secretly  placed  gifts  upon  the  de- 
faced altars  of  ruined  temples,  consulted  the  silent 
oracles,  endeavored  to  propitiate  the  neglected  gods 
by  nocturnal  sacrifices.  Belief  in  the  evil-eye  was  imi- 
versal,  a  delusion  not  extinct  even  in  our  day  among 
the  more  ignorant  peasantry  of  Italy,  who  think  that 
the  possession  and  exercise  of  this  myterious  power 
is  one  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  Pope.  In  such  a 
community  the  charlatans  who  thrive  by  the  weakness 
of  mankind  were  not  wanting.  Astrologers  were  con- 
sidered necessary  appendages  to  the  grandeur  of  the 
imperial  court.  They  abounded  in  every  quarter  of 
the  city,  and  were  regarded  by  the  populace  with  feel- 
ings of  mingled  fear  and  veneration.  Even  members 
of  the  priesthood,  terrified  by  some  unfamiliar  natural 
phenomenon,  which  their  ignorance  suggested  might 
portend  an  imminent  calamity,  did  not  hesitate  to 
openly  visit  these  impostors. 

To  the  hands  of  these  two  great  powers,  the  Papacy 
of  Rome  and  the  Empire  of  the  Greeks,  were  virtually 
intrusted  the  destinies  of  the  vast  and  constantly  in- 
creasing population  of  Europe.  Their  evil  influence 
over  the  minds  of  men  was  incalculable.  What  the 
unprincipled  methods  and  insolent  pretensions  of  tiie 
former  failed  to  effect  was  supplied  by  the  political 
duplicity  of  the  latter.  While  of  ten  apparently  at 
variance,  they  were  in  reality,  though  unconsciously, 
seeking  to  compass  a  common  end, — ^the  moral,  social, 
and  intellectual  degradation  of  humanity.  No  con- 
ceptions of  honor,  consistency,  generosity,  or  pa- 
triotism affected  the  policy  of  either.  Is  it  sur- 
prising that  under  such  circumstances  and  with  such 


MooBisH  Empire  m  Eubofe  888 

masters  the  society  of  the  Christian  world  should  have 
remained  for  many  centuries  absolutely  stagnant, 
without  advancement  in  the  arts,  without  incentives 
to  literary  effort,  without  exertion  in  the  fascinating 
domain  of  science,  almost  without  the  consolation  of 
hope  beyond  the  grave  ?  When  we  consider  the  bound- 
less opportunities  for  good  in  the  grasp  of  these  two 
great  enemies  of  human  progress,  and  tiie  energy  and 
ability  employed  by  one  of  them  especially  to  stifle  all 
inquiry  and  every  aspiration  for  mental  improvement, 
we  may  realize  the  extent  of  the  darkness  which  en- 
veloped the  society  of  Europe  for  nearly  a  thousand 
years,  and  appreciate  the  efforts  of  the  Mohammedan 
nations,  whose  self -instructed  genius  illumined  with 
such  a  brilliant  light  the  path  of  civilization  and 
knowledge. 

The  most  pernicious  and  debasing  conditions  of 
Byzantine  society  prevailed  to  even  a  greater  degree 
in  the  brutalized  communities  of  Central  and  Western 
Europe.  In  no  country  of  that  continent  did  there 
exist  a  firmly  established  or  legally  constituted  gov- 
ernment. The  authority  of  the  sovereign  was  nominal 
and  complimentary, — obeyed  when  it  was  more  con- 
venient to  do  so  than  to  dispute  it,  and  practically 
recognized  rnider  protest.  The  order  of  succession  was 
perpetually  violated.  Ambitious  vassals  overturned 
thrones  won  by  the  valor  of  great  diief  tains,  or  ruled 
with  despotic  power  in  the  names  of  their  feeble 
progeny.  Anarchy  prevailed  throughout  those  prov- 
inces whose  population- was  not  intimidated  by  the 
immediate  presence  of  the  court.  Property  and  life 
were  at  the  mercy  of  banditti  in  the  pay  and  under 
the  protection  of  powerful  nobles,  who  complacently 
shared  the  spoils  and  the  infamy  of  these  highway 
plunderers.  The  savage  and  absurd  customs  imported 
by  barbarians  from  the  forests  of  Germany  and  Brit- 
ain usurped  the  office  of  laws  approved  by  the  wisdom 


884  History  of  the 

and  practice  of  Roman  jurisprudence.  The  decay  of 
that  science  under  the  later  emperors,  and  ^specially 
under  the  system  established  by  Constantine,  must  be 
attributed  to  the  increasing  interest  in  religious  doc- 
trines and  theological  controversy,  which  ignored  the 
talents  and  ambition  once  exercised  in  the  profession 
of  the  civil  law.  The  priest  had  become  the  successful 
rival  of  the  advocate,  and  ecclesiastical  preferment 
was  prized  more  highly  by  the  educated  than  the 
triumphs  of  judicial  learning  and  forensic  eloquence. 
The  arm  of  the  strongest  determined  the  justice  of  a 
cause  without  the  formalities  of  evidence  and  argu- 
ment. A  graduated  tariff  of  compensation  for  bodily 
injmy  existed,  and  any  offence  could  be  expiated  by 
the  payment  of  a  stipulated  srmi.  The  imposition  and 
collection  of  taxes  were  not  regulated  by  any  estab- 
lished principles,  and  the  obvious  rules  of  political 
economy  were  violated  in  the  application  and  enforce- 
ment of  the  fiscal  regulations.  Amidst  the  universal 
disorder,  the  Church  lost  no  opportunity  to  increase 
her  acquisitions  and  consolidate  her  power.  She  en- 
couraged the  continuance  of  the  incredible  ignorance 
and  inhumanity  of  the  age.  She  resolutely  set  her 
face  against  every  attempt  of  the  laity  to  shake  off 
the  fetters  imposed  upon  it  by  violence  and  super- 
stition. She  punished  with  atrocious  severity  the 
slightest  manifestation  to  question  the  genuineness 
of  her  pretensions  or  the  validity  of  her  canons. 

The  warlike  and  pugnacious  spirit  of  an  age  gov- 
erned by  force  affected  even  a  profession  generally 
associated  with  the  offices  of  mercy  and  peace.  For 
centuries  among  the  Saxons  it  was  the  bishop  and  not 
the  king  who  conferred  the  distinction  of  knighthood. 
In  martial  assemblies  no  difference  existed  in  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  prelate  and  the  warrior.  The  panoply 
and  weapons  of  the  field  were  often  also  a  feature  of 
ecclesiastical  convocations.    Godfrey,  Archbishop  of 


Moorish  Emfise  m  Europe  885 

Narbonne,  presided  in  complete  armor  over  councils 
called  to  determine  points  of  religious  doctrine.  The 
Bishop  of  Cahors,  in  Provence,  refused  to  say  mass 
unless  his  sword  and  gauntlets  had  been  previously- 
deposited  on  the  altar.  The  Treasurer  of  the  Cathe- 
dral of  Nevers  appeared  in  the  choir  armed  to  the 
teeth  and  with  his  hawk  upon  his  wrist.  In  Langue- 
doc,  during  the  thirteenth  century,  it  was  the  practice 
of  priests  to  settle  questions  in  dispute  by  fisticuffs. 

After  the  destruction  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the 
first  attempt  to  reorganize  society  was  made  by  the 
institution  of  the  Feudal  System.  It  was  an  instance 
of  the  selection  of  the  lesser  of  two  evils.  In  consid- 
eration of  protection,  the  vassal  paid  homage  to  his 
lord  and  promised  him  military  and  other  services 
under  certain  ill-defined  conditions.  Defective  and 
susceptible  of  enormous  abuses  as  this  arrangement 
was,  it  alleviated  to  some  degree  the  misery  of  the 
lower  orders.  Its  jurisdiction  was  coextensive  with 
the  dominions  formerly  embraced  by  the  empire  of 
Charlemagne.  The  temptation  it  held  out  to  oppres- 
sion more  than  neutralized  the  benefits  it  occasionally 
conferred.  It  organized  and  perpetuated  the  most 
vexatious  of  thraldoms,  the  tyranny  of  caste.  It  ap- 
propriated all  property  in  the  soil,  and  a  person  not 
of  noble  birth  or  ecclesiastical  distinction  was  doomed 
to  the  humiliating  dependence  of  vassalage  or  serf- 
dom. The  nominal  liberty  originally  enjoyed  by  the 
descendants  of  the  ancient  Roman  colonists  was  easily 
forfeited  by  the  non-payment  of  taxes,  whose  amount 
was  regulated  by  the  caprice  of  the  lord;  the  failure 
to  perform  military  service  or  even  the  neglect  to 
observe  obligations  of  trifling  importance  of  them- 
selves was  sufficient  to  reduce  the  offender  to  a  con- 
dition of  servitude. 

The  serfs  were  divided  into  two  principal  classes, 
known  to  the  technical  jargon  of  the  law  as  villains  in 

Vol.  III.— 95 


886  HiSTOSY  OF  THE 

gross  and  villains  regardant.  The  authority  of  tiie 
lord  over  both  of  these  was  absolute  and  irresponsible; 
the  former  were  attached  to  his  person  and,  like  other 
chattels,  could  be  sold  or  otherwise  disposed  of;  the 
latter  belonged  to  the  soil  and  could  under  no  circum- 
stances be  alienated.  In  every  case  villains  were  in- 
ventoried and  valued  as  beasts  of  burden.  They  ex- 
perienced all  the  hardships  that  greed  and  malice  could 
invent  or  cruelty  inflict.  Not  only  were  they  exposed 
to  the  violence  and  rapacity  of  their  superiors,  but  they 
were  subject  to  the  exaction  of  certain  privileges 
which  could  only  have  been  tolerated  in  an  age  wholly 
devoid  of  the  principles  of  honor,  justice,  and  decency. 
A  conveyance  for  the  transfer  of  a  fief  scarcely 
deigned  to  mention  the  wretched  creatures  who  in  the 
eye  of  the  law  formed  a  part  of  the  glebe,  and  one 
from  which  the  latter  derived  its  principal  value.  The 
avarice  of  unfeeling  lords  compelled  the  peasant  to 
labor  throughout  the  night  and  to  share  the  lodgings 
of  the  cattle.  Around  his  neck  was  soldered  a  metal 
collar,  sometimes  of  brass,  often  of  silver,  on  which 
were  engraved  his  name  and  that  of  his  master.  His 
manhood  was  entirely  destroyed;  he  possessed  no 
rights,  enjoyed  no  liberties,  participated  in  no  diver- 
sions. His  identity  was  lost,  his  very  being  was 
merged  into  the  soil  on  whose  surface  he  toiled  from 
early  childhood  until  released  by  death.  No  more 
pathetic  and  forlorn  example  of  the  deplorable  effects 
of  human  tyranny  and  human  suffering  exists  than 
that  presented  by  the  life  of  the  villain  regardant  of 
the  Middle  Ages. 

The  code  of  seignioral  rights  which  governed  the 
lord  in  the  relations  he  maintained  with  his  vassals  is 
one  of  the  most  curious  and  remarkable  collections  in 
the  entire  system  of  jurisprudence.  Voluminous  trea- 
tises have  been  written  upon  it.  Dictionaries  have 
been  compiled  in  explanation  of  the  obscure  and  tech- 


MoosiSH  Emfibe  in  Extbofe  887 

nical  terms  by  which  its  customs  are  designated.  The 
abuse  of  its  prerogatives  has  led  to  more  than  one 
event  whose  effects  have  been  experienced  in  the  fall 
of  empires,  the  institution  of  anarchy,  the  weakening 
of  religious  sentiment,  the  destruction  of  social  order. 
By  the  provisions  of  this  code,  whose  authority  was 
usually  presmned  to  be  based  upon  charters  or  capitu- 
laries conferred  by  reigning  monarchs,  the  suzerain, 
always  an  individual  of  noble  lineage  or  clerical  im- 
portance, was  invested  with  all  the  powers  of  des- 
potism, so  far  as  the  jurisdiction  of  his  estates  was 
concerned.  The  infliction  of  the  death  penalty  was 
within  his  discretion.  He  could  impose  taxes  at  will, 
and  there  was  no  check  upon  his  rapacity  except  that 
suggested  by  considerations  of  private  interest.  The 
rights  of  legalized  plunder  were  multiplied  to  an  as- 
tonishing degree — for  every  important  action  of  life, 
for  the  performance  of  every  labor,  for  every  change 
of  condition,  for  birth,  death,  marriage,  for  the  gath- 
ering of  harvests,  for  the  construction  of  buildings, 
for  the  keeping  of  animals,  permission  was  required 
and  a  contribution  demanded.  The  virtue  of  the  fe- 
male serf  was  absolutely  at  the  mercy  of  her  lord.  She 
was  the  subject  of  the  most  flagitious  and  degrading 
section  in  this  code  of  infamy.  The  charters  or  the 
prescriptive  regulations  of  many  fiefs  conceded  to  the 
lord  the  exercise  of  certain  prior  rights  over  the  bride 
of  a  vassal.  Where  such  a  privilege  existed,  none  of 
any  rank  who  owed  homage  to  prince  or  noble  were 
exempt  from  its  enforcement.  Known  in  different 
countries  by  various  names, — ^in  France,  as  Cuissage; 
in  Italy,  as  Cazzagio;  in  Flanders,  as  Bednood;  in 
Germany,  as  ReH-Schot;  in  England,  as  Maidenrent, 
— ^it  was  one  of  the  most  widely  diffused  of  all  feudal 
exactions.  The  gentlemen  of  the  clergy  practised  it 
most  assiduously;  they  were  among  the  first  to  adopt 
and'  the  last  to  relinquish  it.    This  odious  privilege 


888  History  of  the 

attax^ed  to  the  estates  of  most  of  the  great  abbeys  and 
sees  of  Catholic  Europe.  Its  exertion  might  be  com- 
muted for  a  sum  of  money,  but  this  was  a  matter  ai- 
tirely  dependent  on  the  caprice  of  him  who  enjoyed  it 
In  (Afferent  localities  the  interpretation  of  the  general 
law  which  sanctioned  its  use  was,  by  common  consent, 
enlarged,  and  its  indiscriminate  infliction  was  not  in- 
frequently imposed  upon  the  serfs  of  a  neighbor  as  a 
penalty  for  trespass  and  other  misdemeanors.  Mod- 
em propriety  will  not  tolerate  the  enumeration  of  the 
curious  and  revolting  details  concerning  the  "  Droit 
de  pr61ibation,"  with  which  the  ancient  charters  of 
mediaeval  times  are  filled.  The  evils  resulting  from 
this  custom  frequently  aroused  the  indignation  of 
even  the  meek  and  plodding  villain,  and  incited  him 
to  assassination  and  rebellion.  It  is  an  extraordinary 
circumstance,  however,  that  the  victim  most  nearly 
affected  by  the  operation  of  this  iniquitous  law,  whidi 
had  a  direct  tendency  permanently  to  impair  domes- 
tic happiness  and  cast  a  stigma  upon  the  offspring 
of  every  family,  never  complained  of  its  hardships. 
Among  all  the  remonstrances  and  memorials  presented 
during  the  Middle  Ages  to  monarchs  and  legislative 
bodies  which  have  been  preserved,  and  many  of  which 
are  signed  by  women,  not  a  single  instance  can  be 
found  where  a  female  vassal  requested  the  abolition 
of  a  custom  whose  continuance  was  a  constant  menace 
to  her  modesty  and  virtue. 

The  essential  principles  of  feudalism  were  territo- 
rial and  martial.  The  right  to  receive  homage  implied 
the  possession  of  real  property  and  the  privilege  of 
private  warfare.  The  soldier  was  the  controlling 
power  in  the  state.  Questions  affecting  the  integrity 
or  loyalty  of  an  individual,  the  liability  for  civil  for- 
feiture or  criminal  punishment,  the  settlement  of  a 
boundary,  the  vindication  of  personal  honor,  were  re- 
ferred, not  to  a  judicial  tribunal  to  be  determined  by 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  889 

the  application  of  well-established  rules  and  prece- 
dents, but  to  the  wager  of  battle.  In  cases  where 
heresy  was  suspected,  other  and  even  more  absurd 
tests,  such  as  the  ordeals  by  fire  and  water,  were 
adopted.  No  rational  ideas  existed  for  the  ascertain- 
ment of  truth  or  the  dispensation  of  justice.  Every 
nation  was  subject  to  a  haughty  and  cruel  aristocracy, 
whose  tyranny  was  sometimes  tempered  and  some- 
times aggravated  by  the  influence  of  the  clerical  order, 
as  its  interests  or  its  passions  at  the  time  might  dictate. 
Whenever  a  rebellious  spirit  was  evinced  by  the  peas- 
antry, and  the  authority  of  the  barons  was  not  strong 
enough  to  suppress  it,  bands  of  foreign  mercenaries 
and  outlaws  were  enlisted,  who  were  paid  with  the  ef- 
fects of  the  serfs  which  had  escaped  the  rapacity  of 
the  suzerain.  The  maintenance  of  a  system  which 
countenanced  the  settlement  of  private  feuds  by  the 
sword  and  admitted  the  virtual  independence  of  the 
nobles  was,  of  course,  inimical  to  the  dignity  and 
power  of  the  sovereign.  In  France  the  seignioral  fiefs 
bestowed  by  charters  numbered  five  thousand,  and 
their  lords  exercised  jurisdiction  over  thirty  thousand 
villages.  There  were  abbeys  whose  domains  were 
tilled  by  as  many  as  twenty  thousand  serfs  attached 
to  the  glebe.  This  enumeration  did  not  include  the 
villains  in  gross,  who  sometimes  exceeded  in  number 
all  the  other  retainers  and  dependents  of  the  lords. 
The  greater  portion  of  the  vast  territory  administered 
by  the  hierarchy  imder  the  customs  of  feudalism  was 
obtained  from  wealthy  pilgrims  and  crusaders,  who 
sacrificed  their  earthly  possessions  to  the  thrifty  priest- 
hood for  a  trifle  ip  the  vain  expectation  of  securing  a 
celestial  inheritance.  By  means  of  this  folly,  as  well 
as  through  the  efi^ects  of  ecclesiastical  oppression  and 
torture,  France  lost  thirty-three  per  cent,  of  its  popu- 
lation during  the  thirteenth  century.  In  Saxon  Eng- 
land the  peasants  had  absolutely  no  guaranty  of  pro- 


800  EbSTORY  OF  THE 

tection.  Their  property  was  appropriated  and  their 
persons  enslaved  by  the  petty  kings  and  piratical 
chieftains  w^io  contended  in  incessant  warfare  for  con- 
trol of  the  affairs  of  Britain.  The  conquest  by  the 
Normans  was  productive  of  little  improvement.  A 
tyranny  of  race  and  caste  arose,  aggravated  by  the 
worst  features  of  the  Feudal  System,  and  the  despised 
and  humiliated  Saxon  was  degraded  almost  to  the 
level  of  a  brute.  During  this  unhappy  epoch  the  law 
of  force  was  pfp*amount  throughout  Europe.  The 
moral  influence  exerted  by  the  clergy  through  the 
mediimi  of  superstitious  fear  afforded  the  only  in- 
stance where  obedience  was  not  dependent  upon  the 
sword.  Where  the  privileges  of  feudalism  were  com- 
bined with  the  exactions  of  sacerdotal  avarice  and  in- 
tolerance, the  lot  of  the  serf  was  indeed  grievous.  But 
in  cases  that  did  not  compromise  the  prestige  or  affect 
the  revenues  of  the  hierarchy,  the  Church  not  infre- 
quently interposed  to  protect  the  victim  of  aristocratic 
persecution  and  injustice.  The  savage  baron,  all  but 
omnipotent  elsewhere,  dared  not  invade  the  hallowed 
precincts  of  her  sanctuary.  Under  the  beneficent 
shadow  of  her  altar  the  fugitive  peasant  was  safe 
from  the  vengeance  of  his  oppressor.  By  the  tender 
of  her  mediation  in  the  quarrels  of  powerful  chief- 
tains, peace  was  re-established  over  extensive  provinces 
where  anarchy  and  implacable  hatred  had  long  held 
sway.  And  it  was  by  her  aid,  combined  with  the  ef- 
forts of  the  outraged  Third  Estate,  and  encouraged 
by  monarchs  whose  prerogatives  had  been  usurped, 
that  the  offensive  and  cruel  rights  of  feudalism  were 
finally  abolished.  The  Crusades  struck  a  fatal  blow 
at  the  system  by  impoverishing  the  lords  through  the 
alienation  of  their  estates  and  the  consequent  over- 
throw of  their  power.  For  this  service,  if  for  no  other, 
posterity  owes  to  the  priesthood  an  incalculable  debt 
of  gratitude.     So  firmly  rooted  were  many  of  the 


MooBiSH  Empibe  m  Eubofe  891 

practices  of  the  Feudal  System  that  to  this  day  they 
have  not  been  entirely  eradicated.  Ceremonies  mi- 
questionably  derived  from  seignioral  privileges  are 
still  observed  in  remote  districts  of  France  and  Italy. 
The  statutes  of  England  and  her  colonies  have  not 
yet  been  purged  of  provisions  and  terms  which  sug- 
gest to  the  legal  antiquary  the  mutual  obligations  of 
vassal  and  suzerain. 

The  relative  position  of  nations  in  the  scale  of  bar- 
barism or  civilization  is  largely  determined  by  the 
nature  of  their  tastes  and  favorite  occupations,  by 
their  pastimes,  by  the  means  which  they  invent  or 
adopt  to  add  to  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of 
daily  life.  During  the  greater  portion  of  the  period 
under  consideration  in  this  chapter,  the  existence  of 
the  people  of  Europe,  without  distinction  of  rank  or 
resources,  was  a  purely  animal  one.  The  necessities 
of  the  fortress,  the  camp,  and  the  hovel  were  easily 
supplied.  Articles  of  the  simplest  construction  and 
most  inexpensive  materials,  whose  uses  must  have  oc- 
curred spontaneously  to  the  most  unimaginative  mind, 
and  are  now  considered  indispensable  in  every  house- 
hold, were  imknown.  The  castle  of  the  noble  partook 
of  all  the  forbidding  characteristics  of  a  prison.  Its 
frowning  donjon,  its  impassable  moat,  its  embattled 
walls,  its  jealously  guarded  portals,  were  suggestive 
of  tyranny  and  disorder.  The  interior  was  not  more 
inviting.  The  halls  were  cold  and  cheerless;  the 
gloomy  chambers,  into  whose  damp  recesses  the  rays 
of  the  Sim  struggled  with  difficulty  through  narrow, 
unglazed  windows,  the  stone  seats,  the  massive  furni- 
ture and  mildewed  tapestry  were  typical  of  the  coarse 
simplicity  and  unsettled  condition  of  society  in  that 
age.  The  banqueting  hall,  where  hospitality  was  dis- 
pensed on  state  occasions  with  rude  magnificence,  was 
at  almost  every  meal  the  scene  of  gluttony  and  uncon- 
trolled inebriety. 


899  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

The  decorations  and  their  surroundings  exhibited 
the  greatest  possible  incongniity.  Hangings  of  silk 
and  velvet  embroidered  with  gold  were  suspended 
against  whitewashed  walls.  Plate  of  the  precious 
metals  was  served  upon  tables  of  rough  and  uneven 
boards.  The  mailed  foot  of  the  knight  and  the  dainty 
slipper  of  the  chatelaine  reposed  upon  imdressed  flags, 
whose  coldness  was  somewhat  counteracted  by  a  cover- 
ing of  straw  or  fragrant  herbs.  In  the  viands  abun- 
dance was  considered  rather  than  excellence  of  flavor, 
which,  however,  on  extraordinary  occasions  was  sup- 
posed to  be  supplied  by  the  use  of  rose-water  profusely 
sprinkled  over  every  dish.  The  repast,  where  incred- 
ible quantities  of  food  were  consumed,  was  diaracter- 
ized  by  coarse  jests  and  barbaric  revelry.  The  favor- 
ite beverage  was  beer,  often  brewed  in  the  castle  and 
indulged  in  to  disgusting  excess;  for  through  its 
potency  the  festivities  became  the  fatal  cause  of  inde- 
scribable Ubertinism  and  sanguinary  encounters.  The 
guests  were  served  by  squires  and  pages,  youths  of 
rank,  who,  inmates  of  the  castle,  acquired  there  a 
knowledge  of  arms  as  well  as  an  acquaintance  with 
the  more  doubtful  accomplishments  of  gaming  and 
amorous  intrigue.  The  intimate  associations  and  do- 
mestic character  of  mediseval  society  arising  from  a 
sparse  population  removed  all  suspicion  of  menial  ser- 
vice from  this  duty,  which  was  considered  highly  hon- 
orable, and  was  gladly  performed  by  the  proudest 
noble  at  the  board  of  his  royal  suzerain. 

The  amusements  of  the  feudal  lord  were  confined 
to  war  or  its  substitute,  the  chase.  In  the  intervals  of 
peace  the  tournament  supplied  the  necessary  practice 
in  arms  as  well  as  the  military  pomp  and  excitement 
of  the  field.  One  of  the  favorite  diversions  of  both 
the  nobility  and  the  wealthier  clergy  was  fljring  the 
falcon.  All  extraordinary  importance  attached  to  the 
possession  and  use  of  these  birds  of  prey.    Property 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  898 

in  them  was  inviolate.  They  were  inseparably  con- 
nected with  the  aristocratical  or  personal  privileges  of 
the  owner,  and  could  not  be  alienated,  even  with  his 
consent,  for  the  ransom  of  their  master.  Persons  of 
plebeian  station  were  not  permitted  to  purchase  or 
keep  them.  They  were  universally  recognized  sym- 
bols of  suzerainty.  Kings,  bishops,  abbots,  ladies 
never  went  abroad  without  these  birds  upon  their  fists. 
Warriors  carried  them  in  battle.  Prelates  deposited 
them  in  the  chancel  while  they  recited  the  service  of 
the  altar.  The  regulations  of  falconry  constituted  a 
science  only  to  be  mastered  after  months  of  assiduous 
study.  The  education  of  these  birds  required  the  ex- 
ertion of  great  skill  and  boundless  patience.  Each 
falcon  was  carried  upon  a  glove  which  could  not  be 
used  for  any  other.  It  bore  the  arms  of  the  master, 
and  was  often  embroidered  with  gold  and  ornamented 
with  jewels.  In  many  kingdoms  the  office  of  Grand 
Falconer  was  one  of  the  greatest  distinction  and  im- 
portance. In  France  the  emoluments  of  this  dignitary 
were  eighty  thousand  francs  a  year,  and  gentlemen  of 
rank  eagerly  competed  for  the  subordinate  employ- 
ments at  his  disposal. 

The  supreme  ambition  of  baronial  life  was  the  fame 
that  attached  to  martial  deeds  and  romantic  adventure. 
The  first  care  of  the  noble  was  to  secure  himself 
against  the  treachery  and  violence  of  his  neighbors. 
His  castle,  perched  upon  a  lofty  eminence,  was  fur- 
nished with  every  device  to  render  it  impregnable. 
The  most  incessant  vigilance  was  adopted  to  provide 
against  surprise.  In  front  of  the  gateway,  or  pro- 
jected from  the  summit  of  the  keep  and  overhanging 
the  moat,  was  a  gibbet,  a  significant  reminder  to  male- 
factors of  the  consequences  of  violated  law  or  resisted 
oppression.  By  the  over-scrupulous,  immunity  was 
purchased  from  the  Chiu^ch  with  the  proceeds  of  the 
spoliation  of  the  helpless.    On  all  sides — ^in  the  bloody 


d04  History  of  the 

traditions  of  the  moated  stronghold,  with  its  suhterra- 
nean  dungeons  and  its  instruments  of  torture;  in  the 
license  of  the  armored  troop  that  rode  down  the  ripen- 
ing harvest  and  levied  blackmail  on  the  trader'and  the 
pilgrim;  in  the  perpetual  labors  of  the  uncomplaining 
serf;  in  the  outraged  modesty  of  weeping  woman- 
hood; in  the  summary  execution  of  suspected  offend- 
ers against  feudal  privilege, — everywhere  were  visible 
the  brutalizing  effects  of  unrestrained  cruelty  and  ir- 
responsible power. 

But  with  all  their  defects,  the  baronial  institutions 
of  medisBval  times  bestowed  upon  society  advantages 
that  in  some  measure  compensated  for  the  evil  which 
they  too  often  occasioned.  The  military  tastes  of  the 
age  gave  rise  to  the  laws  of  chivalry  and  the  institution 
of  knighthood,  whence  in  turn  were  derived  graces  and 
amenities  of  social  intercourse  hitherto  unpractised  by 
the  savage  warriors  of  Gallic  and  Saxon  Eiu^pe. 

The  tournament  was,  as  might  be  imagined,  the 
most  popular  of  the  diversions  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
From  far  and  near  multitudes  flocked  to  the  scene 
of  martial  skill  and  splendor.  The  town  where  it 
was  held  presented  the  aspect  of  an  immense  fair. 
For  leagues  around  the  country  was  dotted  with  tents, 
and  with  pavilions  surmounted  by  the  pennons  of  the 
chivalry  of  many  lands.  The  retinues  of  prince  and 
noble  not  infrequently  assimied  the  dimensions  of  an 
army.  The  followers  of  Gottfried,  Duke  von  Lowen, 
at  Trazignies  in  1169  numbered  three  thousand.  At 
a  tournament  near  Soissons  in  1175,  Count  Baldwin 
von  Hennegau  appeared  with  an  escort  of  a  hundred 
knights  and  twelve  hundred  esquires.  The  blazons  of 
the  most  ancient  and  celebrated  houses  of  Europe 
were  conspicuous  in  the  vast  encampment.  Kings  fre- 
quently held  their  courts  within  its  precincts.  All 
classes  were  in  holiday  garb.  The  magnificence  of  the 
spectacle  was  enhanced  by  gorgeously  caparisoned 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubope  805 

Lorses,  damascened  harnesses,  waving  plumes,  many 
colored  silks,  sparkling  jewels,  the  parade  of  men-at- 
arms,  the  pomp  of  marching  squadrons,  the  resplen- 
dent charms  of  female  beauty.  The  contest,  repeat- 
edly, but  without  effect,  prohibited  by  the  edicts  of 
Pope  and  Council,  was  conducted  with  all  the  ferocity 
of  battle.  The  thirst  of  blood  predominated  over 
every  other  sentiment.  It  was  not  an  unusual  occur- 
rences for  scores  of  knights  to  be  carried  lifeless  from 
the  lists  after  one  of  these  fierce  encounters. 

The  point  of  honor  which  inspired  the  conduct  of 
the  mediseval  champion  of  distressed  innocence  and 
avenger  of  privileged  oppression  had  no  existence 
among  the  most  civilized  races  of  antiquity.  The  in- 
dividuality implied  by  its  exercise  could  not  be  com- 
prehended by  commimities  whose  members,  while  ca- 
pable of  renouncing  every  tie  of  kindred  in  behalf  of 
the  interests  of  the  state  and  of  imdergoing  the  most 
severe  privations  to  sustain  the  national  supremacy, 
were  prevented  by  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  their 
surroundings  from  appreciating  the  qualities  which 
ennobled  even  the  vices  of  the  knight  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Without  this  prominent  and  compensating 
feature  the  condition  of  society  during  the  tenth, 
eleventh,  and  twelfth  centuries  would  have  been  one 
of  imredeemed  and  unequivocal  barbarism. 

The  coarse  though  abundant  fare  of  the  castle 
board,  the  more  delicate  but  still  far  from  dainty 
viands  of  the  monastic  refectory,  the  boisterous  amuse- 
ments which  occupied  the  leisure  and  menaced  the 
safety  of  the  participants,  the  drunken  revels  of  glut- 
tonous banquets,  the  incessant  perils  of  domestic  war- 
fare, to  which  baron  and  monk  were  alike  exposed, 
were  suggestive  of  absolute  happiness  and  luxury 
when  contrasted  with  the  conditions  under  which  was 
sustained  the  miserable  existence  of  the  serf.  His 
habitation  was  shared  by  beasts  of  burden,  the  com- 


806  HiSTOBT  OF  THE 

panions  of  his  daily  and  nightly  toil.  Composed  of 
unhewn  logs  or  of  sticks  wattled  with  rushes,  thatched 
with  straw  and  plastered  with  mud,  its  primitive  and 
defective  construction  afforded  little  security  against 
the  vicissitudes  of  the  climate  or  the  inclemency  of  the 
seasons.  Through  a  hole  in  the  centre  of  the  roof  the 
smoke  emerged  and  the  storm  descended;  the  walls 
were  blackened  with  soot;  the  earthen  floor  was  cov- 
ered with  a  trampled  litter  of  hay,  mingled  with  bones 
and  the  decaying  fragments  of  many  a  repast  which 
the  occupants  had  never  taken  the  trouble  to  remove. 
Of  furniture  there  was  almost  none;  a  bench,  per- 
haps, and  a  table  of  unsmoothed  planks  answered  the 
simple  requirements  of  the  hapless  villain.  He  re- 
posed upon  a  heap  of  straw  with  a  block  of  wood  for 
a  pillow;  the  few  culinary  utensils  he  possessed  were 
of  the  rudest  description,  and  had  been  fashioned  by 
the  hand  of  the  owner.  No  provision  was  made  for 
the  decencies  of  life  or  the  safeguards  of  virtue,  whidi 
were  indeed  unknown;  the  family  occupied  a  common 
apartment,  and  often  a  single  bed,  while  the  grunting 
of  swine  and  the  lowing  of  oxen,  which  animals  ranged 
at  will  through  the  dwelling,  were  sounds  too  familiar 
to  disturb  the  slumbers  of  the  drowsy  household.  The 
accumulated  filth  of  years,  combined  with  indescriba- 
ble personal  neglect  and  revolting  customs,  attracted 
and  multiplied  swarming  multitudes  of  every  species 
of  vermin.  The  garments  of  the  peasant,  usually  of 
skins,  descended  uncleansed  and  unchanged  from 
father  to  son  through  many  generations,  bearing  in 
their  contaminated  folds  the  germs  of  pestilence  and 
death.  Where  the  circumstances  of  the  serf  were  not 
sufiiciently  prosperous  to  afford  even  this  protection 
against  the  weather,  his  shivering  limbs  were  wrapped 
with  ropes  of  straw.  His  head  was  uncovered,  often 
even  in  the  depth  of  winter.  The  most  obvious  pre- 
cautions of  hygiene  were  neglected;  the  simplest  pre- 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubope  897 

cepts  of  medical  science  had  not  yet  penetrated  to  the 
isolated  communities  of  Western  Europe  or  were 
sedulously  discountenanced  by  the  interests  of  super- 
stition; and  the  plague,  assisted  by  favorable  climatic 
conditions,  as  weU  as  by  the  physical  debasement  and 
the  fears  of  the  people,  at  each  visitation  numbered 
its  victims  by  myriads.  With  game  in  every  grove  and 
fish  in  every  stream,  tiie  famishing  peasant  was  often 
reduced  to  appease  his  hunger  with  unwholesome  roots 
and  bark  when  the  meal  of  chestnuts  and  acorns,  his 
most  luxurious  fare,  was  wanting.  The  severity  of 
the  forest  laws  visited  upon  the  poacher,  even  when 
impelled  by  the  pangs  of  starvation  to  trespass  on  the 
seignioral  demesnes,  the  most  barbarous  of  punish- 
ments. Around  the  monastery  and  the  castle  were 
visible  the  signs  of  unskilled  and  reluctant  cultivation; 
but  not  far  away  was  a  wilderness  diversified  with  vast 
forests,  majestic  rivers,  and  pestilential  marshes.  In- 
tercommunication was  irregular  and  limited  to  popu- 
lous districts;  many  villages  of  no  inconsiderable 
dimensions  were  as  completely  separated  from  the  out- 
side world  as  if  they  stood  on  islands  in  the  midst  of 
the  ocean.  Barter  of  commodities  necessarily  prevailed 
in  the  almost  entire  absence  of  money;  there  was  no 
opportunity  for  the  establishment  of  trade;  no  incite- 
ment to  agricultural  industry ;  no  work  for  the  artisan. 
The  accumulation  of  property  was  effectually  discour- 
aged through  the  incapacity  of  the  laborer  to  retain 
or  enjoy  it  when  his  hopes  were  constantly  frustrated 
by  the  insinuating  artifices  of  the  priest  or  the  sig- 
nificant threats  of  the  noble.  The  extortions  of  the 
inexorable  tax-receiver,  the  inhumanity  of  licensed 
hirelings,  the  enormities  countenanced  by  baronial 
tyranny,  carried  dismay  into  every  hamlet.  Epidemics 
appeared  without  warning,  and  spread  with  mysteri- 
ous and  appalling  rapidity;  the  death-rate  was  fright- 
ful;  fatal  symptoms  developed  almost  with  the  first 


898  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

attack,  while  in  the  ignorance  of  rational  treatment 
the  application  of  relics  and  the  mummeries  of  the 
clergy  proved  signally  ineffectual  to  avert  what  was 
considered  the  vengeance  of  Heaven. 

Confined  in  the  lazar-house  with  himdreds  of  his 
fellow-sufferers  or  banished  to  a  lonely  hut,  far  from 
the  haunts  of  men,  the  hapless  leper  dragged  out  his 
melancholy  existence  in  pain,  in  disgrace,  in  penury. 
The  law  declared  him  civilly  dead.  With  a  ceremony 
not  less  solemn  than  that  performed  over  the  remains 
of  a  Christian  actually  deceased,  the  priest  announced 
his  final  separation  from  the  society  of  mankind.  His 
body  was  enveloped  in  a  shroud.  He  was  laid  upon 
a  bier.  With  the  repetition  of  the  legal  formula  which 
consigned  him  to  a  life  of  odiimi  and  sorrow,  a  few 
garments  and  necessary  utensils  were  placed  in  his 
hands.  He  was  forbidden  to  eat  with  any  person  but 
a  leper;  to  wash  his  hands  in  running  water;  to  give 
away  any  object  he  had  touched;  to  frequent  places 
of  public  resort;  even  to  enter  the  house  of  a  relative 
or  a  friend.  With  his  shoulders  covered  with  a  tat- 
tered scarlet  mantle, — ^a  danger-signal,  visible  from 
afar, — ^hideous  to  the  sight,  emaciated  to  a  skeleton, 
and  horribly  scarred  with  disease,  he  crouched  by  the 
wayside,  soimding  his*  rattle  to  arouse  the  compassion 
and  solicit  the  charity  of  the  passer-by.  Deprived  of 
civil  rights  and  debarred  from  invoking  the  protection 
of  the  law,  he  was,  however,  not  wholly  an  outcast, 
for  with  the  exclusion  from  these  privileges  he  became 
the  ward  and  vassal  of  the  Church.  So  loathed  and 
dreaded  was  his  malady— often  considered  a  divine 
penalty  for  crime  or  sacrilege — ^that  no  physician  could 
be  induced  to  employ  the  scanty  medical  science  of  the 
day  for  the  alleviation  of  his  sufferings;  and,  even  if 
wealthy,  he  was  abandoned  to  the  suspicious  ministra- 
tions of  wizards,  barbers,  and  charlatans.  Shunned 
as  accursed  and  repulsive  during  his  lifetime,  when 


MooBiSH  Empire  in  Eubofe  899 

dead  he  was  unceremoniously  buried  under  the  floor  of 
his  hoveh 

The  segregation  of  lepers  in  the  Middle  Ages,  as  a 
measure  of  public  safety,  was  productive  of  singular 
results  in  subsequent  times.  The  disease,  which  at  dif- 
ferent periods  seems  to  have  been  both  infectious  and 
contagious,  gradually  disappeared.  But  the  preju- 
dice attaching  to  the  posterity  of  the  unfortunate  out- 
casts, formerly  cut  oflF  from  all  intercourse  with  their  * 
fellow-men,  and  who  formed  isolated  commimities, 
still  remained.  The  origin  of  that  prejudice  was- 
completely  forgotten.  The  people  in  their  ignorance 
attributed  the  cause  of  their  enmity  to  religious  dif- 
ferences. It  was  believed  that  the  objects  of  their 
unreasoning  aversion  were  variously  sprung  from  the 
Goths,  the  Jews,  the  Saracens,  the  Albigenses.  Mod- 
em research,  however,  has  definitely  established  the 
fact  that  the  former  pariahs  of  Southwestern  Eiu^ope, 
known  in  Languedoc  and  Gascony  as  Capots  and 
Gahets,  in  Brittany  as  Cacous,  in  the  Pjrrenees  as 
Cagots,  in  Spain  as  Agotes,  were  the  descendants  of 
mediaeval  lepers.  A  century  has  hardly  elapsed  since 
these  victims  of  popular  antipathy  have  been  divested 
of  that  suspicion  of  uncleanness  which  was  their  an- 
cient and  unhappy  heritage. 

In  the  disorganized  state  of  society  which  every- 
where prevailed,  facilities  for  the  profitable  and 
friendly  intercourse  which  promote  the  intelligence 
and  contribute  to  the  temporal  welfare  of  nations 
could  not  exist.  Even  in  provinces  of  the  same  coun- 
try the  professional  robber  and  the  bandit  noble  united 
to  imperil  the  life  and  seize  the  merchandise  of  the 
trader.  The  courses  of  the  old  Roman  highways,  un- 
used for  centuries,  concealed  by  rubbish  and  sometimes 
overgrown  with  forests,  had  been  utterly  lost.  There 
was  no  provision  made  by  the  state  for  the  protection 
of  commerce,  and  the  universal  insecurity  discouraged 


400  HlffTOBY  OF  THE 

the  schemes  of  private  enterprise.  The  mortality  re- 
sulting from  habitual  violation  of  the  most  obvious 
sanitary  laws,  from  the  use  of  insufficient  and  innu- 
tritions food,  from  the  hardships  of  incessant  toil,  and 
from  daily  exposure  to  the  elements,  effectually  re- 
tarded the  increase  of  population.  That  district  was 
fortunate  indeed  where  even  a  uniform  standard  was 
preserved.  In  many  localities  in  kingdoms  where 
modem  civilization  has  achieved  her  most  signal 
triumphs,  a  solitary  shepherd  pasturing  his  flock,  or 
a  tottering  hovel  standing  in  tiie  centre  of  a  dismal 
waste,  alone  proclaimed  the  presence  of  man. 

The  condition  of  the  towns,  where  an  improvement 
in  the  manner  of  living  might  reasonably  have  been 
expected,  was  in  but  few  respects  superior  to  that  of 
the  scattered  villages  and  isolated  settlements  of  the 
country.  Even  the  main  thoroughfares  were  narrow, 
tortuous,  and  dirty.  Without  drainage  or  adequate 
municipal  supervision,  they  were  receptacles  for  the 
refuse  of  the  household  and  the  offensive  carcasses  of 
dead  and  decaying  animals.  Even  as  late  as  the  reign 
of  Francis  I.,  the  hogs  belonging  to  the  monks  of  St. 
Anthony,  who  asserted  and  exercised  special  privi- 
leges for  the  animals  sacred  to  their  patron,  wandered 
at  will  through  the  fashionable  quarters  of  the  metro- 
politan city  of  Paris.  From  the  overhanging  bal- 
conies filthy  slops  were  dashed,  without  warning,  upon 
the  head  of  the  unwary  passer-by.  By  night,  daring 
criminals,  secure  from  the  risk  of  punishment,  plied 
their  lawless  calling  in  these  dismal  and  unlighted 
lanes.  He  who  ventured,  unattended,  to  thread  the 
maze  of  alleys  that  wound  through  even  the  most  fre- 
quented quarters  of  great  cities  did  so  at  peril  of  his 
life.  Each  comer  formed  a  convenient  lair  for  the 
lurking  assassin.  The  projecting  gables  of  the  houses 
aided  in  obscuring  the  gloomy  footways.  As  the  citi- 
zen stood  in  constant  fear  of  robbers,  his  dwelling  was 


1 


Moorish  Emfieub  in  Europe  401 

always  barred  and  silent.  No  light  was  visible  any- 
where save  the  flickering  gleam  in  the  lantern  carried 
by  the  trembling  pedestrian,  always  on  his  guard 
against  some  prowling  assailant.  Sometimes  the  mud 
was  so  deep  that  locomotion  was  impossible  for  the 
bearers  of  sedans,  and  women  were  carried  from  place 
to  place  upon  the  backs  of  porters,  as  the  narrow  and 
crooked  streets  precluded  the  use  of  vehicles  drawn 
by  horses.  In  the  habitations  of  even  those  considered 
wealthy,  a  general  air  of  discomfort  was  prevalent. 
The  apartments  were  dark,  ill-ventilated,  and  unclean. 
In  the  windows  plates  of  horn  and  sheets  of  oiled 
paper  supplied  the  place  of  glass,  which  was  practi- 
cally unknown.  No  carpet  covered  the  floors,  which 
were  strewn  with  rushes.  The  foul  surroundings  as- 
sisted materially  in  the  propagation  of  fevers  and  the 
spread  of  contagion.  Provision  for  frequent  ablu- 
tion, so  conducive  to  personal  comfort  as  well  as  to 
immunity  from  disease,  was  unheard  of.  In  many  of 
the  most  populous  capitals  of  Europe  not  a  single 
public  bath  could  be  found.  The  attire  of  the  pros- 
perous burgher  and  merchant  was  prescribed  by  sump- 
tuary laws  dictated  by  the  jealous  spirit  of  the  aris- 
tocracy, who  could  not  tolerate  a  display  of  plebeian 
splendor  to  which  their  own  resources  were  unable  to 
attain.  Their  garments  were  limited  to  coarse  woollen 
stufl^s,  whose  cut  and  fashion  were  regulated  accord- 
ing to  the  capricious  decisions  of  the  court.  The  use 
of  golden  ornaments  and  jewels,  so  indispensable  to 
the  gratification  of  female  vanity,  was  prohibited  to 
the  wives  and  daughters  of  their  households,  who  were 
also  restricted  to  a  sombre  and  unattractive  garb.  In 
some  instances  this  contemptible  exercise  of  authority 
went  still  further.  It  dictated  the  quantity  and  quality 
of  the  food  and  the  beverages  to  be  consumed  at  the 
table  of  the  citizen,  the  description  and  the  price  of 
Ihe  light  which  illumined  his  home  and  of  the  fuel 

Vol.  III.— JW 


402  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

that  warmed  him.  If  he  had  anything  to  sell,  he  was 
paid  by  his  superiors  in  the  product  of  a  debased  coin- 
age or  with  coimterf eit  money,  whose  manufacture 
was  everywhere  prosecuted  with  comparative  impu- 
nity- 
Drunkenness  was  so  prevalent  in  England  during 
the  reign  of  Edgar  that  restrictions  were  placed  upon 
the  quantity  of  liquor  to  be  consumed, — ^the  amount 
allowed  each  guest  being  indicated  by  a  mark  on  the 
side  of  the  cup  or  the  drinking-horn.  The  observance 
of  these  tyrannical  and  senseless  ordinances  was 
secured  by  a  harassing  system  of  espionage  and  in- 
formers, and  their  violation  was  punished  by  ruinous 
fines  and  by  condemnation  to  the  stocks  or  the  pillory. 
The  publication  and  enforcement  of  sumptuary  laws 
necessarily  prevented  the  development  of  conmierce, 
already  greatly  retarded  by  the  prevalent  barbarism 
and  poverty  of  the  age.  Countries  enjoying  unlim- 
ited natural  resources  of  soil,  minerals,  timber,  and 
water-power,  and  whose  noble  streams  only  required  a 
portion  of  the  energy  and  enterprise  of  man  to  bring 
the  fertile  regions  they  traversed  into  intimate  contact 
with  the  humanizing  influences  and  exquisite  products 
of  the  highest  civilization,  were  as  backward  as  the 
savage  kingdoms  of  central  Africa  are  to-day. 

A  good  index  of  the  force  of  the  bigoted  prejudice 
and  public  intolerance  of  the  time  is  discernible  in 
the  treatment  universally  received  by  the  Jew.  He 
was  the  financier,  the  physician,  the  merchant,  the 
broker,  the  sdiolar  of  the  Middle  Ages.  He  man- 
aged with  eminent  success  the  fiscal  departments  of 
vast  empires  and  kingdoms.  In  the  great  catastrophes 
which  overwhelmed  entire  nations, — ^amidst  the  want 
and  despair  occasioned  by  earthquakes,  wars,  famine, 
pestilence, — ^his  shrewdness  and  his  resources  always 
ajfforded  relief  to  the  suffering  induced  by  the  preva- 
lent evils,  although  it  must  be  confessed  rarely  without 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  408 

exorbitant  compensation.  His  medical  talents  and 
surgical  skill  brought  him  under  the  ban  of  the  clergy 
as  a  dealer  in  magic;  but  neither  the  statutes  of 
Parliament  nor  the  anathemas  of  priests  could  de- 
prive him  of  the  protection  and  friendship  of  or- 
thodox monarchs,  or  of  even  the  Sovereign  Pontiff 
himself.  True  to  the  adventurous  and  acquisitive 
dharacter  of  his  race,  he  introduced  the  knowledge 
and  use  of  foreign  commodities  in  lands  rarely 
trodden  by  the  foot  of  the  stranger,  defying  the 
storms  of  sea  and  ocean,  braving  alike  the  unprincipled 
rapacity  of  the  noble,  the  violence  of  the  highwayman, 
the  perils  of  remote  and  unexplored  solitudes.  In 
maritime  cities  he  established  depots  for  the  importa- 
tion and  exchange  of  every  description  of  merchan- 
dise. His  credit  and  his  tact  enabled  him  to  negotiate 
loans  for  improvident  princes,  which,  more  than 
once,  saved  distressed  nations  from  bankruptcy. 
Amidst  the  multifarious  variety  of  his  occupations,  he 
found  time  for  the  recreation  derived  from  the  pur- 
suits of  literature.  In  this  sphere,  as  in  all  others  to 
which  he  devoted  his  talents,  he  attained  to  the  highest 
distinction.  In  philosophy,  in  astronomy,  in  chemis- 
try, in  mathematics,  his  opinions  were  regarded  by  his 
contemporaries  with  the  reverence  attaching  to  oracles. 
His  poetry  and  his  eloquence  delighted  such  courts  as 
those  of  Cordova  and  Bagdad ;  his  erudition  instructed 
and  his  genius  illumined  schools  like  those  of  Salerno, 
Montpellier,  and  Narbonne. 

How  then  did  society  reward  such  inestimable  bene- 
fits? Alas  1  for  the  credit  of  humanity,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  the  intolerance  fostered  by  centuries  of 
hatred  obliterated  every  generous  impulse,  every  senti- 
ment of  gratitude.  The  remembrance  of  the  decision 
of  the  Sanhedrim,  the  story  of  the  sacrifice  on  Cal- 
vary, extinguished  in  the  minds  of  the  fanatical  popu- 
lace the  sense  of  any  subsequent  obligation.   The  anni- 


404  HiSTOEY  or  the 

versary  of  that  tremendous  event  was  the  signal  for 
insult  and  outrage.  The  most  heinous  accusatioriSy 
many  of  them  extravagant  and  improbable  in  their 
very  nature,  were  brought  by  popular  clamor,  insti- 
gated by  ecclesiastical  malice,  against  the  defenceless 
Hebrew.  His  commercial  relations  with  the  East  had 
introduced  the  leprosy.  The  plague  was  caused  by 
poison  which  he  had  thrown  into  the  wells.  The  meat 
he  sold  was  sometimes  whispered  to  be  human  flesh; 
and  the  milk  he  dealt  in  not  yielded  by  the  cow,  but 
drawn  from  the  breasts  of  the  females  of  his  house- 
hold. He  kidnapped  children,  whose  blood  he  made 
use  of  in  the  concoction  of  magical  potions.  On  Good 
Friday,  aided  by  his  kinsmen,  he  re-enacted  the 
tragedy  of  Golgotha,  the  victim  being  a  Christian 
youth  who  played,  perforce,  the  rdle  of  the  Saviour, 
and  who,  with  unavailing  struggles  and  lamentations, 
endured  the  humiliation  and  agony  of  the  Crucifixion. 
Kings,  merely  by  proclamation,  appropriated  the  Jews 
of  their  reahns  as  the  absolute  property  of  the  crown. 
Then,  by  virtue  of  this  arbitrary  proceeding,  they  con- 
fiscated the  possessions  of  these  victims  of  royal  ava- 
rice, under  pretence  of  fines  or  ransom.  Under  these 
significant  circumstances  it  requires  no  extraordinary 
degree  of  discernment  to  perceive  that  the  wealth  of 
the  Jews  was  the  principal  cause  of  their  persecution. 
By  their  talents  and  industry  they  had  reached  the 
highest  posts  in  the  learned  professions;  had  monopo- 
lized the  trade;  had  controlled,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  the  policy  of  every  government  in  Christen- 
dom. Under  Charlemagne  and  Louis  le  Debonnair 
their  condition  was  more  prosperous  than  under  suc- 
ceeding monarchs  for  eight  hundred  years.  In  every 
walk  of  life  they  received  the  consideration  merited  by 
their  commanding  abilities.  Their  influence  was  un- 
rivalled. They  maintained  royal  state.  Great  conces- 
sions were  made  to  their  convenience  and  religious 


Moorish  Empire  in  Extbofe  406 

prejudices.  Their  prosperity  excited  the  envy  of  the 
rabble.  Their  influence  with  the  monarch  enraged  the 
courtiers.  The  clergy,  whose  profits  were  reduced  by 
their  enterprise  and  whose  monopolies  they  antago- 
nized by  their  insinuating  arts,  regarded  them  with  the 
double  hatred  engendered  by  imperilled  temporal  in- 
terests and  ferocious  bigotry.  Among  every  class  and 
rank  their  superior  intelligence  was  believed  to  be  due 
to  sacrilegious  bargains  with  the  powers  of  darkness. 
The  prejudice  attaching  to  their  name  and  religion 
always  afforded  a  specious  pretext  for  persecution. 
In  every  Christian  kingdom  they  were  the  objects 
of  poptdar  execration.  They  were  unceremoniously 
robbed  by  the  government.  They  were  banished  with- 
out notice.  Their  debtors  were  encouraged  to  repudi- 
ate contracts  made  with  them.  The  ofiicials  of  the  In- 
quisition took  exquisite  pleasure  in  burning  Hebrews, 
always  selecting  the  most  wealthy  for  its  victims.  Of 
the  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  persons  burnt  or 
disciplined  during  the  twenty-eight  years  comprising 
the  administrations  of  Torquemada  and  Ximenes  as 
Inquisitors-General,  the  majority  were  of  that  unfor- 
tunate race.  The  cause  of  a  Jew  was  prejudged  be- 
fore every  tribunal,  and  it  was  often  difficult  for  him 
to  obtain  a  hearing,  and  still  more  to  secure  the  protec- 
tion to  which  he  was  legally  entitled.  Under  such 
intolerable  oppression  it  is  not  strange  that  he  should, 
by  the  adoption  of  unprincipled  methods  and  by  the 
exaction  of  enormous  usury,  have  endeavored  to  com- 
pensate himself,  in  some  degree,  for  the  degradation 
and  hardships  he  was  compelled  to  undergo.  This 
course,  however,  only  intensified  the  popular  hatred 
until  the  term  Jew  was  considered  the  epitome  of  all 
dishonor,  deceit,  and  unprincipled  viUany.  These  dis- 
creditable prejudices,  dictated  by  general  ignorance 
and  by  the  sacerdotal  malice  of  the  Middle  Ages,  are 
still,  it  is  well  known,  far  from  being  eradicated  even 


406  HnrroBY  of  the 

by  the  superior  understanding  and  liberal  opinions  of 
the  twentieth  century. 

The  universal  distress  which  aflBicted  the  peasantry, 
as  well  as  the  poorer  classes  of  the  cities,  is  reveal«l 
by  the  inhumanity  with  which  they  were  accustomed 
to  treat  their  offspring.  Robbed  and  oppressed  by 
both  priest  and  baron,  and  barely  able  to  eke  out  a 
miserable  existence  by  themselves,  they  regarded  the 
birth  of  an  infant  as  a  domestic  calamity.  Parents 
deliberately  abandoned  their  children  in  unfrequented 
places  to  perish  by  starvation  or  to  be  torn  to  pieces 
by  birds  of  prey.  Many  were  drowned  like  puppies. 
Some  were  buried  alive.  Others  were  deposited  at 
the  doors  of  diurches  and  convents,  where  they  were 
often  killed  by  dogs.  The  extent  of  the  evil,  as  well 
as  the  prevalent  immorality  existing  in  a  single  coun- 
try, may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the  Hospital 
of  Santa  Cruz,  foimded  by  Cardinal  Mendoza  of 
Spain  in  the  sixteenth  century,  received  and  sheltered 
during  twenty  years  more  than  thirteen  thousand 
foundlings. 

The  great  epidemics  that  from  time  to  time  raged 
throughout  Europe  afford  glimpses  of  the  life  and 
character  of  the  people  not  readily  obtained  from 
other  sources.  Medical  science  recognizes  to-day  that 
the  principal  causes  of  such  visitations  are  private 
uncleanness  and  the  accumulation  of  filth  in  public 
places.  During  the  Middle  Ages,  the  regulations  of 
sanitary  police  were  wholly  unknown.  On  every  side 
heaps  of  garbage  and  putrefying  offal  met  the  eye 
and  offended  the  nostrils.  The  necessity  for  the  thor- 
ough ventilation  and  drainage  of  dwellings  was  uiisus- 
pected.  The  prejudice  against  bathing,  which  univer- 
sally existed,  was  partly  due  to  the  example  of  the 
clergy,  who  were  not  supposed  to  have  time  to  spare 
from  their  sacred  duties  to  care  for  their  persons,  and 
partly  due  to  contempt  for  the  Mohammedans,  whose 


MooBiSH  Empire  in  Eubofe  407 

lustrations  were  a  peremptory  religious  duty.  As 
Christianity  spread,  the  practice  of  ablution  gradually 
declined.  The  Roman  tihermse,  one  of  the  wonders  of 
the  capital,  were  at  first  abandoned  and  afterwards 
utilized  as  quarries  for  the  palace  and  tibe  cathedral.. 
A  general  idea  prevailed  that  the  ceremony  of  bap- 
tism removed  all  necessity  for  the  subsequent  appli- 
cation of  water  to  the  body.  Filth  became  a  test  of 
devotion,  and,  following  the  example  of  their  spiritual 
guides,  the  multitude  came  finally,  by  the  natural  law 
of  association,  to  regard  the  unsavory  manifestations 
of  personal  neglect  as  prima-fade  evidence  of  Chris- 
tian orthodoxy.  Thus,  sanctioned  by  public  opinion 
and  confirmed  by  ecclesiastical  authority,  a  stigma  was 
placed  upon  cleanliness,  and  a  premium  ofi^ered  for 
corporeal  foulness  and  offensive  surroundings.  Those 
who  violated  the  established  custom  were  in  danger  of 
being  denounced  as  heretics.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
serious  accusations  against  the  Emperor  Frederick  II. 
that  he  was  addicted  to  the  frequent  use  of  the  bath. 
Among  the  upper  classes  of  society,  the  unpleasant 
consequences  of  untidy  habits  were  in  a  measure  neu- 
tralized by  the  excessive  use  of  strong  perfumes,  such 
as  musk,  dvet,  and  ambergris.  Among  the  lower 
orders  many  of  the  physical  conditions  of  life  were 
indescribable.  In  the  vicinity  of  towns,  as  well  as  of 
isolated  habitations,  equal  negligence  of  the  laws  of 
health  prevailed.  From  the  moat,  with  its  stagnant 
waters  reeking  with  the  refuse  of  the  castle,  to  the  vast 
marshes,  with  their  exhalations  poisoning  the  air 
around  the  hut  of  the  shepherd,  the  atmosphere  was 
charged  with  the  miasma  of  death.  When  to  the 
effects  of  such  surroundings  were  added  the  depress- 
ing influences  of  contagion  and  terror,  the  results  were 
appalling.  The  plague  of  the  sixth  century,  whose 
course  raged  unchecked  from  the  Bosphorus  to  the 
Atlantic^  desolated  entire  coimtries;  the  Black  Death 


408  HiSTOEY  OP  THE 

of  the  fourteenth  carried  off  seventy-five  million  per- 
sons, one-half  the  inhabitants  of  Christendom.  So 
favorable  to  the  spread  of  the  pestilence  were  the  cli- 
matic conditions  of  the  coimtry  and  the  personal  habits 
of  the  people  of  England  that  the  majority  of  them 
perished  in  a  few  months  by  a  single  visitation  of  this 
dreadful  epidemic.  It  so  diminished  the  population 
that  the  pursuits  of  mechanical  industry  were  seriously 
and  permanently  affected.  Wages  became  higher 
than  ever  before,  and  legislation  concerning  the  vexed 
question  of  the  mutual  rights  of  employer  and  em- 
ployed was  inaugurated,  a  question  which  has  not  been 
settled  to  the  present  day.  The  vicinity  of  the  dying 
and  the  dead  carried  witii  it  almost  certain  infection. 
Even  the  extraordinary  brilliancy  of  the  eyes  of  pa- 
tients suffering  from  delirium  was  supposed,  in  con- 
formity with  the  prevailing  superstition,  to  convey  a 
malignant  and  fatal  influence  upon  all  within  the 
range  of  their  glances.  The  air  was  so  tainted  that 
domestic  animals,  cattle,  horses,  sheep,  even  the  birds, 
died  by  hundreds  of  strange  and  fatal  distempers. 
The  mortality  was  so  great  in  some  districts  that  the 
helpless  convalescents  were  unable  to  perform  the 
burial  rites  for  their  friends  and  neighbors.  Ships 
encumbered  with  the  corpses  of  their  crews  drifted 
about  in  the  ocean  without  sailor  or  helmsman.  Men 
became  insane  through  fright,  and  thousands  com- 
mitted suicide.  The  wealthy  flocked  to  the  churches 
and  poured  their  gold  upon  the  altars;  but  for  once 
ecclesiastical  avarice  was  forgotten,  and  the  timid 
priests,  through  dread  of  the  scourge,  often  refused 
the  proffered  treasure.  Ajs  a  result  of  the  universal 
consternation  inspired  by  the  calamity,  negligent  and 
hasty  interment  was,  in  many  instances,  responsible  for 
the  rapid  propagation  of  the  pestilence.  Multitudes 
of  corpses,  covered  only  with  a  thin  layer  of  earth, 
were  placed  in  shallow  trenches.    Others  were  cast  into 


f 


,  Moorish  Emfeelb  in  Eubofe  409 

the  livers,  to  be  in  time  lodged  against  their  banks, 
fresh  sources  of  contagion  and  death.  Through  all 
these  scenes  of  physical  and  mental  agony  no  scientific 
medical  aid  was  available.  The  few  skilled  Jewish 
practitioners,  who,  graduates  of  the  schools  of  the 
Moslem,  had  ventured  into  the  dangerous  precincts 
of  Christian  courts,  were  looked  upon  with  suspicion 
as  professors  of  sorcery  and  members  of  a  proscribed 
and  accursed  race.  In  the  South  of  France  it  was  xm- 
lawf  ul  to  consult  them  or  to  receive  their  prescriptions. 
No  correct  theories  were  entertained  concerning  the 
cause  and  prevention  of  disease,  even  by  the  intelligent 
and  educated.  The  malady  was  attributed  to  the  active 
intervention  of  the  devil  or  his  agents,  and  the  sick 
were  bound  and  brought,  dozens  at  a  time,  to  the 
Church  as  the  most  suitable  place  for  exorcism,  where, 
in  general,  their  sufferings  were  speedily  terminated 
by  agony  and  neglect.  There  was  no  comfort  for  the 
terrified  but  the  whispers  of  the  confessional;  no  re- 
source for  the  pest-stricken  sufferer  but  the  Host  and 
the  reliquary.  Indeed,  it  was  but  natural  that  these 
should  be  appealed  to  for  succor,  for  it  had  long  been 
assiduously  taught  that  Divine  wrath  was  the  imme- 
diate cause  of  all  physical  misfortune.  The  pestilence 
was  now  considered  a  tremendous  judgment  for  the 
derelictions  of  mankind.  The  ravings  of  insanity  and 
delirium  were  declared  to  be  due  to  possession  by 
demons,  only  to  be  relieved  by  bell,  book,  and  candle, 
and  aU  the  manifold  impostures  of  sacerdotal  mum- 
mery. During  the  continuance  of  the  plague  the 
Church  prospered  amazingly,  as  she  always  does 
prosper  by  the  woes  and  the  misery  of  mankind.  Her 
gains  were  far  greater  than  during  the  Crusades.  The 
zeal  of  the  devout,  the  superstitious  fear  and  remorse 
of  the  wicked,  alike  paid  enormous  tribute  to  her 
rapacity.  Valuable  estates  were  devised  by  dying 
penitents  to  her  ministers.     Sumptuous  cathedrals 


410  History  of  the 

were  raised  and  endowed  by  the  grateful  piety  of 
those  who  attributed  their  recovery  to  the  intercession 
of  her  saints.  Monasteries  and  chapels  were  founded 
by  those  whom  her  prayers  were  supposed  to  have 
rescued  from  the  very  jaws  of  death.  The  portable 
wealth  of  empires  poinded  daily  into  her  treasury.  But 
all  these  sacrifices,  all  this  generosity,  all  this  religious 
display,  afforded  no  perceptible  relief.  If  they  proved 
anything,  they  demonstrated  effectually  the  worthless- 
ness  of  cure  by  the  resorting  to  shrines  and  the  appli- 
cation of  relics.  The  pestilence  ceased  its  ravages  on 
account  of  the  want  of  material,  not  because  its  prog- 
ress was  stayed  by  priestly  intercession.  But  while  its 
violence  abated  and  its  characteristic  symptoms  dis- 
appeared, its  effects  remained,  and  it  bequeathed  a 
frightful  legacy  to  posterity.  Although  respectable 
medical  authority  has  contended  for  a  different  origin 
of  the  disease,  tliere  can  be  little  doubt  in  the  minds 
of  those  who  have  thoroughly  familiarized  themselves 
with  the  subject  that  syphilis  is  either  the  result  of  a 
recrudescent  form  of  leprosy  or  of  a  modified  morbid 
condition  developed  from  the  plague.  Such  is  a  por- 
tion of  the  foul  inheritance  for  which  ilie  twentieth 
century  is  indebted  to  the  ignorance,  llie  filth,  and  the 
superstition  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Wretched  as  was  the  physical  condition  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Europe,  their  moral  state  was  even  more  de- 
plorable. The  revolting  characteristics  and  manners 
of  the  clergy  have  already  been  considered  in  these 
pages.  Under  sudi  instructors,  whose  admonitions 
were  so  palpably  at  variance  with  their  unholy  Uves, 
it  cannot  be  wondered  at  that  society  was  permeated 
with  treachery  and  hypocrisy.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  of  mental  phenomena  that  man  should 
earnestly  solicit  the  intercession  of  the  members  of 
a  sacred  profession  with  Heaven,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  demonstrates  unequivocally  by  his  actions 


MooBisH  Empibe  in  Exjbofe  411 

that  he  has  no  respect  for  their  calling  and  no  faith 
in  their  prayers.  Such  was  largely  the  case  of  the 
Roman  CathoUcs  of  the  Dark  Ages,  They  lavished 
their  wealth  with  unstinted  profusion  upon  the 
Church.  They  greeted  her  ministers  with  servile 
tokens  of  respect  and  homage.  They  sought  her 
advice  in  worldly  affairs;  they  obeyed  her  oppressive 
edicts;  they  voluntarily  relkiquished  their  natural 
rights  at  her  despotic  bidding.  But  when  opportu- 
nity offered,  the  insincerity  of  these  professions  be- 
came unmistakably  evident.  In  the  midst  of  the 
apparent  blind  and  devoted  subserviency  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  a  debased  reUgion,  ancient  Pagan  ideas  were 
constantly  manifesting  themselves.  The  worship  of 
fairies,  often  scarcely  concealed,  was  wide-spread 
throughout  the  Christian  world.  The  knight  placed 
far  more  confidence  in  his  armor,  consecrated  by 
heathen  ceremonies,  than  in  the  reUquary  that  was 
attached  to  his  saddle-bow  or  the  Agnus  Dei  sus- 
pended about  his  neck.  The  anxious  housewife  on 
the  eve  of  a  feast  preferred  to  address  her  petitions 
to  some  popular  and  beneficent  Pagan  spirit,  accus- 
tomed to  good  Uving  and  luxury,  than  to  a  female 
saint  with  whom  abstinence  was  a  duty,  and  whose 
Ufe  had  been  passed  amidst  the  privations  of  the 
convent  or  the  hermitage. 

The  death  of  a  pope  was  hailed  with  indecorous  joy 
in  every  quarter  of  Rome.  The  election  of  a  new 
pontiff  was  the  signal  for  disorder,  riot,  massacre. 
Yelling  mobs  filled  the  streets,  singing  impious  and 
obscene  songs.  The  most  indecent  actions  were  per- 
petrated in  the  face  of  open  day.  The  papal  palace 
was  repeatedly  sacked  and  its  precious  contents  de- 
stroyed. The  mansions  of  the  cardinals  and  the 
nobility  were  plundered.  It  was  not  safe  for  these 
dignitaries  to  appear  in  public  until  the  popular  ex- 
citement had  subsided,  and  the  death  of  the  spiritual 
sovereign  of  the  Christian  world  was  often  concealed 


412  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

until  his  successor  had  been  chosen,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  scenes  of  anarchy  certain  to  result  if  this 
precaution  was  not  taken.  So  far  from  conceding 
divine  attributes  to  the  pontifical  character,  the 
Roman  populace  habitually  and  openly  derided  its 
pretensions  to  infallibility.  It  not  infrequently  in- 
terfered with  the  freedom  of  the  conclave  and,  in- 
timidating the  cardinals,  dictated  the  selection  of  a 
pope.  If  such  was  the  disrespect  manifested  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  papal  capital  towards  the  head 
of  the  Church,  little  courtesy  could  be  expected  by  his 
ecclesiastical  subordinates  anywhere.  The  veneration 
they  claimed  by  reason  of  their  calling  was  offered 
only  by  the  more  ignorant  of  the  masculine  sex  and 
by  women.  The  latter,  more  weak  and  credulous  in 
their  nature,  were  the  bulwark  of  superstition,  as  in- 
deed they  have  always  been  in  every  age.  But  with 
the  educated  the  case  was  far  different.  As  has  been 
already  remarked,  the  ecclesiastic  was  represented  in 
the  most  popular  writings  of  the  time  as  a  foolish, 
licentious,  and  degraded  hypocrite.  Public  opinion 
would  not  have  tolerated  this  holding  up  the  sacerdotal 
profession  to  derision  had  there  not  been  ample  provo- 
cation for  such  a  course.  There  are  good  reasons  for 
believing  that  the  awkward  and  disgraceful  predica- 
ments of  profligate  clerks  described  in- the  entertain- 
ing pages  of  the  Cent  Nouvelles  Nouvelles,  Boccaccio, 
Poggio,  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  and  similar  collections 
were  actual  occurrences.  It  is  indisputable  that  many 
of  these  tales  were  obtained  from  the  ardiives  of  re- 
ligious houses  and  the  humorous  traditions  of  monastic 
life.  The  existence  of  universal  corruption  among  the 
regular  clergy  indicated  by  these  satirical  authors  re- 
ceives a  significant  illustration  from  the  fact  that  they 
invariably  include  the  nunnery  and  the  brothel  in  the 
same  category,  and  indiscriminately  designate  the 
heads  of  these  establishments  by  the  title  of  "  abbess." 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  418 

In  the  religious  festivals  and  dramatic  representa- 
tions there  also  appeared  conspicuous  indications  of 
the  prevalent  irreverence  and  mockery  of  the  age.  The 
most  solemn  and  awful  events  of  sacred  history  were 
absurdly  burlesqued  amidst  the  jeers  of  a  scoffing  and 
delighted  mob.  The  grotesque  features  of  these  cere- 
monies were  a  survival  of  the  Roman  Saturnalia  not 
yet  extinct  among  the  less  enlightened  peasantry  of 
Europe.  The  most  holy  mysteries  of  the  Church  were 
parodied  in  obscene  and  sacrilegious  scenic  exhibitions. 
The  actors  in  these  profane  representations  were 
selected  from  the  lower  orders  of  the  priesthood. 
They  assumed  the  characters  of  popes,  cardinals, 
bishops.  Sometimes  they  were  dressed  in  the  vest- 
ments and  equipped  with  the  insignia  of  their  rank, — 
the  tiara,  the  mitre,  the  crosier,  the  crucifix;  but  often 
they  donned  the  party-colored  attjre  of  the  profes- 
sional fool  and  jester  and  carried  his  truncheon.  The 
mass  was  celebrated  in  due  form,  but  accompanied 
with  a  thousand  extravagant  and  often  indecent  gest- 
ures by  these  privileged  buffoons.  Men  entirely  nude 
were  conducted  into  the  churches  and  deluged  with 
pailf  uls  of  holy  water.  Old  shoes  burned  in  the  cen- 
sers filled  the  atmosphere  with  a  sickening  stench.  A 
repast  was  spread  upon  the  altar,  and  all  who  desired 
regaled  themselves  while  the  representative  of  the  cele- 
brant recited  the  impressive  service  of  the  Church. 
In  the  mean  time,  the  aisles  were  swarming  with 
maskers,  whose  coarse  jests  and  lascivious  contortions 
evoked  the  applause  and  laughter  of  the  audience. 
Men  gambled  within  the  rail  of  the  chancel.  Every 
excess  was  indulged  in  without  check  or  remonstrance 
during  the  continuance  of  these  festivals.  Debauch- 
ery ran  riot  even  in  the  most  holy  places.  Priests, 
stripped  of  their  clerical  vestments,  danced  half -naked 
in  the  streets.  The  bells  were  removed  from  the 
church-towers  and  concealed.    Diuing  the  Feast  of 


414  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

Asses,  a  donkey  with  his  rider  was  conducted  into  the 
choir,  and  the  responses  of  ihe  congregation  were 
made  in  imitation  of  the  mmielodious  voice  of  that 
useful  but  proverbially  stupid  animal.  In  this  in- 
stance, sausages  seasoned  with  garlic  supplied  the 
place  of  frankincense.  In  tiie  celebration  of  another 
festival,  a  fox,  dressed  in  the  habiliments  of  the  Pa- 
pacy, was  carried  in  state  by  an  escort  of  mock  car- 
dinals. A  quantity  of  poultry  was  distributed  at  in- 
tervals in  the  streets  through  which  this  singular  pro- 
cession was  to  pass,  and  when  the  fox,  dropping  his 
tiara  and  trailing  his  purple  robes  in  the  dust,  occa- 
sionally attempted  to  seize  a  hen,  the  delighted  multi- 
tude fairly  rent  the  air  with  acclamations. 

The  dramas,  known  under  the  name  of  miracle  and 
moral  plays,  were  often  fully  as  depraved  in  tone  and 
as  demoralizing  in  effect  as  the  festivals.  They  owed 
their  origin  to  the  lively  imagination  and  love  of  spec- 
tacular display  characteristic  of  the  Greeks  of  Con- 
stantinople. In  some  instances,  the  actors  repre- 
sented Scriptural  personages,  in  others  the  virtues  and 
vices  of  an  allegory.  The  greatest  incongruities  of 
locality,  time,  and  character  were  introduced  without 
question  or  criticism.  With  the  absurdities  of  the  plot 
were  mingled  impious  sentiments  and  vulgar  witti- 
cisms. Notwithstanding  the  coarseness  and  profanity 
of  these  dramas,  their  value  in  controlling  tiie  minds 
of  the  impressionable  poptdace  was  fully  recognized 
by  the  hierarchy.  Generally  enacted  by  members  of 
the  priesthood,  funds  were  appropriated  from  the 
treasury  of  the  Church  for  their  celebration,  and  in- 
dulgences granted  to  induce  pilgrims  to  attend  them. 

The  dramatic  spectacles  of  the  Middle  Ages  were, 
however,  not  confined  to  representations  of  a  nomi- 
nally religious  character.  As  early  as  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, the  plays  of  the  nun  Hrotswitha  were  enacted 
in  monasteries  and  convents  for  the  amusement  of 


MOOBISH  EmPIBE  IK  EuEOFE  415 

tfaeir  inmates.  These  productions,  imitations  of  the 
comedies  of  Terrence,  far  sm'passed  the  latter  in  free- 
dom of  language  and  action.  Their  coarseness  is  such 
that  they  will  not  bear  translation.  The  poems  of  the 
same  author,  whose  life  was  ostensibly  devoted  to  pious 
thoughts  and  communion  with  the  saints,  are  even 
more  extraordinary.  The  sentiments  they  express  and 
the  scenes  they  depict  are  the  last  which  the  reader 
would  ordinarily  expect  to  find  in  compositions  pro- 
ceeding from  such  a  source,  and  must  have  been  sug- 
gested by  an  extensive  and  varied  experience. 

These  things,  necessarily  transitory  in  their  char- 
«ter,  have  Ar^ei  wM.'^the  grjign«.nee  and 
credulity  of  mediaeval  life.  But  more  permanent 
memorials,  carved  upon  the  corbels,  capitals,  and  archi- 
traves of  edifices  dedicated  to  divine  worship,  disclose 
more  forcibly,  if  possible,  the  want  of  reverence  for 
the  rites  of  the  Church,  and  the  callous  indifference 
of  the  priesthood  to  what  cannot  be  construed  other- 
wise than  as  a  deliberate  insult  to  religion.  Monks, 
priests,  and  bishops  in  full  canonicals  are  depicted 
with  the  attributes  of  cunning  and  filthy  animals,  such 
as  foxes,  wolves,  asses,  and  baboons.  The  hog  is  a 
favorite  subject,  and  seems  to  have  been  considered  by 
the  mediaeval  sculptor  as  possessing  traits  peculiarly 
applicable  to  delineations  of  monastic  life  and  char- 
acter. These  grotesque  caricatures  are  frequently  in- 
terspersed with  indescribable  obscenities.  A  partial 
explanation  of  their  occurrence  may  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  they  were  sculptured  by  the  monks  them- 
selves. The  latter  were  the  only  class  of  their  age 
skilled  in  the  practice  of  the  mechanical  arts.  In  their 
order  was  centred  the  architectural  as  well  as  the  liter- 
ary knowledge  of  the  time.  They  built  and  decorated 
their  own  churches  and  abbeys.  It  is  difficult  to  recon- 
cile the  spirit  which  could  conceive  and  execute  such 
representations  with  that  which  could  endure  their 


416  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

publicity,  especially  in  the  temples  of  Gk)d.  For  the 
fact  is  only  too  well  established  that  mediaeval  church- 
men were  far  from  being  noted  for  toleration.  Still, 
the  ruling  sentiments  of  society  in  those  days  were  far 
different  from  those  which  obtain  in  ours.  Its  stand- 
ard of  morality  was  lower,  but,  at  the  same  time,  it 
was  evidently  not  disposed  to  conceal  its  favorite  vices. 
One  thing,  however,  is  certain,  the  failings  of  the 
clergy  were  so  open  and  notorious  as  to  have  become  a 
common  jest,  in  whose  merriment  even  the  subjects 
themselves  were  not  ashamed  to  participate.  It  is  not 
a  pleasing  reflection  upon  the  state  of  public  morals 
that  its  teachers  had  not  only  become  insensible  to 
contempt  for  their  violation  of  htunan  and  divine  laws, 
but  encouraged  and  even  rewarded  the  preservation 
of  their  monstrous  vices  in  imperishable  materials  for 
the  amazement  and  disgust  of  posterity. 

With  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  the  knowledge 
of  letters,  in  common  with  every  other  accomplish- 
ment, had  departed.  From  the  time  of  Charlemagne, 
no  instruction  was  accessible  save  that  transmitted 
through  the  doubtful  medium  of  ecclesiastical  institu- 
tions. That  monarch  had  imparted  a  great  impulse  to 
learning  by  the  foundation  of  academies;  by  attract- 
ing to  his  court  the  wisdom  of  other  lands;  by  the 
appointment  of  monastic  chroniclers;  and  by  the  en- 
couragement of  the  Jews.  As  it  was  the  policy  of 
the  Church  to  keep  the  masses  in  ignorance,  the 
scanty  and  general  information  to  be  derived  from 
that  source  was  restricted  to  members  of  the  privileged 
classes.  The  general  and  incredible  abasement  of  the 
people  in  those  times  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact 
that  so  late  as  1590,  when  a  mouse  had  devoured  the 
sacramental  wafer  in  one  of  the  churches  of  Italy, 
it  was  gravely  discussed  by  an  ecclesiastical  council 
convoked  for  that  purpose,  in  the  presence  of  a  pious 
and  wondering  audience,  whether  the  Holy  Ghost 


MooBiSH  Empdee  m  Eubofe  417 

had  entered  the  animal  or  not,  and  if  the  demands  of 
religion  required  that  it  should  he  killed  or  be  made 
an  object  of  worship  1 

Many  of  the  priesthood  could  neither  read  nor 
write,  and,  having  memorized  the  service  by  rote,  cel- 
ebrated mass  like  so  many  parrots,  as  ignorant  of 
what  they  were  saying  as  their  stolid  congregations. 
Bishops  made  their  marks  upon  important  documents 
with  their  fingers  dipped  in  sacramental  wine.  The 
books  used  in  the  service  were  more  esteemed  for 
their  pecuniary  value  than  on  account  of  the  precepts 
they  contained.  Their  golden,  jewel-studded  covers 
often  attracted  the  cupidity  of  the  brethren,  who  de- 
faced, pawned,  or  bodily  abstracted  the  volumes  as 
opportunity  offered  or  their  carnal  necessities  re- 
quired. Almost  incredible  difficulties  attended  the 
dissemination  of  learning.  In  addition  to  the  hostility, 
negligence,  and  incapacity  of  the  clergy,  who  were  its 
privileged  custodians,  great  expense  was  involved  in 
the  manufacture  of  books.  Parchment  was  gener- 
ally of  wretched  quality  and  commanded  extravagant 
prices.  The  supply  to  be  obtained  by  the  erasure  of 
ancient  manuscripts  was  limited,  and,  in  the  universal 
decline  of  the  arts,  the  knowledge  of  its  preparation 
had  been  lost.  The  skins  which  were  brought  to  the 
monasteries  were  required  to  be  cleaned  and  smoothed 
by  the  writers  themselves  before  they  could  be  ren- 
dered available.  The  time  required  for  the  completion 
of  a  book  was  a  serious  impediment  to  the  scholar.  The 
transcription  and  illumination  of  a  manuscript  often 
consumed  years  of  arduous  labor.  With  the  Hebrews, 
the  copying  of  the  Scriptures  was  a  proceeding  not 
less  solemn  than  the  invocation  of  the  sacred  name 
of  Jehovah.  The  materials  were  prepared,  witii  every 
precaution,  by  the  orthodox  of  the  Jewish  faith.  The 
most  dextrous  and  pious  calligraphists  were  employed. 
Every  other  occupation  was  abandoned  until  this  holy 

Vol.  ni--«7 


418  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

task — ^whose  performance  was  considered  as  not  less 
important  than  the  celebration  of  the  rites  of  the  syna- 
gogue— ^had  been  completed. 

As  a  rule,  the  productions  of  the  scribe  and  the 
illuminator  were  considered  too  valuable  to  be  used 
for  any  other  than  religious  purposes.  The  donation 
was  accompanied  with  the  ceremony  of  music  and 
prayer  as  the  missal,  often  enclosed  in  an  exquisite 
golden  casket,  was  deposited  upon  the  altar. 

It  was  only  through  political  or  pecuniary  necessity, 
or  to  obtain  the  favor  of  royalty,  that  these  specimens 
of  art  were  allowed,  even  temporarily,  to  leave  the 
hands  of  their  owners.  In  1190  the  Bishop  of  Ely 
pawned  with  the  Jews  of  Cambridge  thirteen  volumes, 
to  aid  in  obtaining  the  ransom  of  Richard  Coeur  de 
Lion.  To  secure  the  loan  of  a  single  missal,  a  king 
of  France  was  compelled  to  give  a  bond,  with  his 
nobles  as  sureties,  and  to  deposit  with  the  cathedral 
chapter  a  quantity  of  plate  of  enormous  value.  One 
of  the  kings  of  Northumberland  gave  a  productive 
estate  for  a  copy  of  the  Gospels.  The  Elector  of 
Bavaria  offered  a  dty  in  exdiange  for  a  manuscript, 
and  was  refused.  The  illuminated  romance  of  chiv- 
alry, worth  more  than  its  weight  in  gold,  was  the  most 
highly  prized  possession  of  the  opulent  baron.  So 
valuable,  in  fact,  were  these  treasures  that  tibose  des- 
tined for  public  inspection  were  fastened  to  the  walls 
with  massive  chains,  and  guardians  were  appointed  to 
turn  over  the  leaves.  Peter  de  Nemours,  Bishop  of 
Paris,  on  his  departure  for  the  Crusade,  presented  to 
the  Abbey  of  St.  Victor  "  his  great  library,  consisting 
of  eighteen  volumes;"  a  gift  at  that  time  worth  a 
prince's  ransom.  It  will  be  seen  from  these  examples 
that  during  the  Middle  Ages  books  were  not  always  at 
the  command  of  the  greatest  princes,  and  a  collection 
of  a  few  hundred  volumes  was  a  marvel;  that  of 
Queen  Isabella  contained  two  hundred  and  one,  of 


MoosisH  Empibe  in  Europe  410 

which  sixty-seven  were  treatises  on  theology.  Other 
circumstances  contributed  to  their  scarcity.  Written 
usually  in  a  learned  language,  it  required  a  special 
education  to  read  them,  to  say  nothing  of  their  com- 
position. The  expensiveness  of  writing  materials  pre- 
vented many  from  acquiring  familiarity  with  the  use 
of  the  pen.  The  dimensions  of  leaves  designed  for 
various  purposes  were  established  by  law,  but  the 
original  sizes  into  which  a  sheepskin  could  be  folded 
have  been  preserved  in  the  quartos,  octavos,  and  duo- 
decimos of  the  modem  bookseller.  As  a  menace  to 
the  irreverent  and  the  dishonest,  the  author  frequently 
appended  to  his  manuscript  a  malediction  on  whomso- 
ever should  steal  or  mutilate  the  product  of  his  indus- 
try. The  donor  also  added  his  imprecations  upon  the 
head  of  the  borrower  when  the  book  was  presented 
to  a  church  or  monastery.  As  the  modem  languages 
of  Europe  were  not  formed,  communication  by  other 
than  oral  means  was  not  possible  among  the  unedu- 
cated; and  the  art  of  writing  was  in  some  localities 
entirely  lost.  With  the  great  mass  of  the  people  the 
word  "  library"  was  understood  to  mean  the  Holy 
Scriptures ;  they  were  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  any 
other  books.  The  immense  advantages  accruing  to  the 
clergy  from  the  habitual  use  of  an  idiom  unfamiliar 
to  the  vulgar,  as  well  as  from  the  monopoly  of  the 
simplest  rudiments  of  knowledge,  were  not  lost  upon 
these  shrewd  observers  of  human  nature.  The  chiu*ch 
became  the  point  whence  royal  edicts  were  promul- 
gated and  where  commercial  bargains  were  concluded. 
Proclamations  were  issued  at  its  doors.  Contracts 
were  entered  into  before  its  altar.  Oaths  were  taken 
upon  the  Scriptures  and  the  crucifix.  The  Host  was 
used  in  the  detection  of  criminals  and  in  the  solenmi- 
zation  of  treaties.  Land  was  conveyed  by  the  mere 
transfer  of  a  twig  or  a  dod  of  earth  in  the  presence 
of  clerical  witnesses.    The  cross  still  traced  upon  legal 


490  HiSTOBT  OF  THE 

documents  by  the  hands  of  the  illiterate,  in  lieu  of 
a  signature,  is  a  suggestive  reminiscence  of  an  age 
when  the  potency  of  ecclesiastical  influence  was  recog- 
nized in  every  important  transaction  of  life. 

The  persecution  of  learning  was  systematized  and 
maintained,  first,  by  the  creation  of  theological  odium, 
and  subsequently  by  the  institution  of  such  tribunals 
as  the  Holy  Office ;  not  through  a  desire  to  preserve  a 
becoming  reverence  for  religious  worship,  but  from  a 
consciousness  of  the  inability  of  the  existing  system  to 
withstand  the  examination  of  reason.  Heresy  was  a 
convenient  and  ever  available  pretext  for  crushing 
that  independence  of  thought  which  threatened  the 
integrity  of  doctrine  or  the  permanence  of  sacerdotal 
supremacy.  The  Inquisition  was,  when  its  real  object 
is  considered,  as  has  already  been  stated,  a  temporal 
rather  than  an  ecclesiastical  device.  Its  unspeakable 
atrocities  and  their  effects  are  too  well  known  to 
require  description.  In  refutation  of  its  claim  as  a 
means  of  moral  purification  may  be  introduced  the  in- 
disputable fact  that  during  the  period  of  its  greatest 
power  the  worst  atheists,  blasphemers,  and  criminals 
in  Europe  were  to  be  found  masquerading  in  the  cowl 
and  the  surplice.  The  outrages  it  conmiitted  on 
humanity  must  be  regarded  as  the  legitimate  results 
of  the  papal  system,  which,  inheriting  to  a  great  ex- 
tent the  organization,  the  prestige,  and  the  traditions 
of  imperial  authority,  encouraged,  by  immunity  pur- 
chased with  corruption  and  by  the  profligate  example 
of  the  Holy  See,  the  neglect  of  every  duty  and  the 
commission  of  every  crime. 

The  exercise  of  tibe  faculties  of  the  htmian  mind  in 
the  Dark  Ages,  when  they  were  permitted  to  develop 
and  be  employed  for  the  benefit  of  the  Churdhi, — ^their 
only  profitable  patron, — ^are  eminently  suggestive  of 
the  capacity  which  it  possessed  when  afforded  encour- 
agement   The  cathedrals,  the  carvings,  and  the  mis- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  421 

sals,  which,  in  their  respective  departments  of  art,  far 
surpass  the  efforts  of  modem  times,  are  appropriate 
examples  of  the  scope  and  fertility  of  mediaeval 
genius. 

I  have  now  endeavored  to  depict  the  general  and 
more  striking  features  which  distinguished^  society 
during  the  Middle  Ages  coincident  with  the  period 
of  the  Hispano-Arab  domination.  The  description, 
from  the  limited  space  allotted  to  the  subject,  is  neces- 
sarily imperfect.  Volumes  might  still  be  composed  on 
the  events  and  customs  of  that  dismal  period  whose 
most  prominent  characteristic  is  the  intellectual  degra- 
dation of  mankind.  The  reader  cannot  have  failed 
to  remark,  in  every  instance — ^whether  merely  the 
trifling  incidents  of  private  life  were  affected  or 
whether  the  interests  of  extensive  kingdoms  were  in- 
volved— the  incessant  interference  as  well  as  the  un- 
questioned predominance  of  the  ecclesiastical  power. 
He  cannot  but  respect,  if  he  is  unable  to  admire,  the 
commanding  genius  of  an  organization  which  could 
appropriate  and  utilize  with  success  the  profound 
policy,  the  consmnmate  skill,  the  incomparable  talents 
for  administration,  the  heartless  selfishness,  of  its 
political  exemplar  and  religious  prototype,  the  Roman 
Empire.  He  may  turn  with  disgust  from  its  crimes 
and  its  horrors;  from  papal  grandeur  built  upon  for- 
gery and  maintained  by  fraud  and  torture;  from  the 
shamelessness  of  monastic  life;  from  the  duplicity  of 
a  system  which  could  avail  itself  of  the  uncertain 
caprices  and  hideous  brutality  of  barbarian  kings; 
from  the  repulsive  chronicles  of  famous  churchmen, 
with  their  long  catalogue  of  appalling  cruelties,  their 
obscene  and  portentous  legends.  But  while  disap- 
proving of  its  methods,  he  must  admit  its  eminent 
adaptability  to  secure  the  end  at  which  it  aimed,  and 
acknowledge  that  since  the  institution  of  society  no 
government  has  ever  exercised  such  a  powerful  influ- 


422  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

ence  over  the  bodies  and  minds  of  men  as  the  Papacy. 
From  that  influence  no  potentate,  however  great,  was 
free.  The  reputation  of  many  a  mediaeval  monarch 
and  statesman  with  posterity  is  based,  in  reality,  not 
upon  talents  and  merit,  but  upon  the  standing  and 
relations  he  maintained  during  his  lifetime  with  the 
sacerdotal  order. 

In  the  universal  ignorance  of  mankind,  the  familiar 
phenomena  of  nature  contributed  to  the  ascendency 
of  unprincipled  charlatans,  who  based  their  hopes  of 
success  and  its  necessary  incidents,  wealth,  power,  and 
glory,  on  the  invention  and  sedulous  propagation  of 
falsehood.  The  personification  of  everything  material 
and  immaterial,  the  globe  of  the  earth,  the  sparkling 
orbs  of  the  visible  heavens,  the  sudden  and  often  un- 
expected effects  of  the  action  of  the  imponderable 
agents,  the  most  ordinary  operation  of  nature's  laws, 
were  classed  as  supernatural  manifestations,  were 
engrafted  upon  religion  and  received  the  obsequious 
homage  of  fear  and  superstition.  The  wily  ecclesi- 
astic never  forgot  that 

"  Das  Wunder  ist  des  Glaubens  liebstes  Kind." 

Gnomes,  witches,  goblins,  those  imaginary  denizens 
of  the  spiritual  world  whose  weird  and  mischievous 
antics  were  so  well  authenticated  as  to  strike  the  simple 
masses  with  terror  and  to  cause  even  the  learned  to 
shudder  when  their  sins  had  not  been  removed  by  the 
godly  solace  of  confession  and  absolution,  were  en- 
listed as  the  allies  of  the  politic  Ch\u*ch.  By  tiie  aid 
of  such  auxiliaries  and  the  ability  to  profit  by  every 
phase  of  htunan  weakness  and  every  incitement  to 
human  ambition,  she  has  maintained  her  authority  even 
imder  the  most  discouraging  circumstances  until  her 
achievements  in  defiance  of  law  and  progress,  arduous 
as  they  seem,  are  even  less  remarkable  than  the  appar- 
ently eternal  duration  of  her  empire. 


MooBisH  Emfibe  m  Eubofe  428 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

THE  HISPANO-ARAB  AGE  OF  LTTERATUBE  AND  SCIENCE 

760-1450 

Intellectual  Stagnation  of  Europe  during  the  Period  of  Moslem 
Greatness — High  Rank  of  Scholars  in  Spain — ^Attainments 
of  the  Khalif  8— Character  of  Arab  Literature — Progress  of 
Science — The  Alexandrian  Museum — Its  Wonderful  Dis- 
coveries— Its  Contributions  to  Learning — Its  Influence  on 
the  Career  of  the  Mohammedans  —  The  Arabic  Language 
— Poetry  of  the  Arabs — Its  General  Characteristics — ^The- 
ology and  Jurisprudence — ^History — Geography — Philoso- 
phy —  Libraries  —  Rationalism  —  Averroes  —  Mathematics 
—  Astronomy  —  Al-Hazen  —  Gerbert  —  Botany  —  Al- 
chemy— Chemistry — Pharmacy — ^Albertus  Magnus,  Robert 
Grossetete,  and  Roger  Bacon  —  Medicine  and  Surgery  — 
Ignorance  of  their  Theories  and  Scientific  Application  in 
Mediaeval  Europe — Prevalence  of  Imposture — Fatality  of 
Epidemics — Great  Advance  of  the  Arabs  in  Medical  Knowl- 
edge—  Hospitals  —  Treatment  of  Various  Diseases  —  The 
Famous  Moslem  Practitioners — Contrast  between  the  Chris- 
tian and  the  Mohammedan  Systems — ^Enduring  Effects  of 
Arab  Science — Its  Example,  and  Benefits  the  Creative  In- 
fluence of  Modern  Civilization. 

While  the  Christian  world  was  enveloped  in  dark- 
ness, and  all  learning  save  that  of  worthless  meta- 
physics and  polemic  theology  had  been  banished  from 
the  minds  of  men;  while  England  wasf  distracted  by 
Danish  and  Norman  invasion,  and  barbarous  monks 
defied  the  authority  of  her  kings  in  the  very  presence 
of  the  throne;  while  Charlemagne  was  desolating  the 
provinces  of  Germany  by  sweeping  and  merciless  pro- 
scription; while  ecumenical  councils  were  proclaiming 
the  virtues  of  celibacy  and  the  sanctity  of  images; 
while  the  populace  of  Rome  was  amused  by  the  scan- 


424i  HiSTOBY  OF  THB 

dal  of  a  female  pope;  during  this  period  of  intel- 
lectual stagnation  the  Moorish  princes  of  Spain  and 
Sicily,  alone  among  the  sovereigns  of  the  West,  kept 
alive  the  sacred  fires  of  art,  science,  and  philosophy. 
The  thirst  of  empire,  stimulated  by  the  fervor  of 
religious  enthusiasm,  had  subjected  to  the  Moslem 
sceptre  a  territory  exceeding  in  extent  and  opulence 
the  vast  and  fertile  area  which,  in  its  most  prosperous 
age,  acknowledged  the  authority  of  the  Caesars.  The 
Arab  capitals  of  Cordova,  Cairo,  Damascus,  and  Bag- 
dad did  not  yield  in  magnificence  of  architecture,  in 
pomp  of  ceremonial,  in  the  skilful  adaptation  of  the 
mechanical  arts,  in  the  accumulation  of  prodigious 
wealth,  in  the  opportunities  for  luxurious  indulgence, 
to  the  traditional  precedence  of  imperial  Rome.  In 
scientific  attainments  no  comparison  exiisted  between 
the  vague  and  unprofitable  speculations  derived  from 
the  schools  of  Greek  and  Latin  philosophy  and  the 
results  obtained  from  the  practical  application  of 
principles  conducive  to  the  development  of  the  human 
reason  and  the  promotion  of  the  welfare  of  mankind. 
In  the  intellectual  as  well  as  in  the  physical  world 
the  success  of  the  Arabs  was  unprecedented.  During 
the  most  splendid  period  of  the  Spanish-Mohamme- 
dan empire,  ignorance  was  accounted  so  disgraceful 
that  men  who  had  not  enjoyed  opportunities  of  edu- 
cation in  early  life  concealed  the  fact  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, just  as  they  would  have  hidden  the  commission 
of  a  crime.  On  the  other  hand,  the  learned — ^trusted 
by  the  sovereign,  the  oracles  of  the  schools,  the  de- 
positaries of  influence  and  power — ^never  relaxed  their 
efforts  for  the  development  of  their  talents  and  the 
increase  of  their  knowledge ;  and  such  was  their  ardor 
and  their  perseverance,  that  they  gave  rise  to  the 
popular  proverb,  "  There  are  two  creatures  that  are 
insatiable, — ^the  man  of  money  and  the  man  of  sci- 
ence."    The  thorough  instruction  imparted  by  the 


Moorish  Empibb  in  Eubofe  425 

Hispano-Arab  institutions  of  learning  was  highly 
appreciated  by  foreign  nations,  and  students  went 
from  the  most  bigoted  communities  of  Europe  to  enter 
the  Universities  of  Cordova  and  Seville.  In  every 
branch  of  polite  literature  the  indefatigable  Moslem 
manifested  his  genius  and  his  diligence.  His  versatile 
talents  and  his  prolixity  are  at  once  the  wonder  and 
the  despair  of  the  most  patient  and  studious  reader. 
One  remarkable  personage,  Ibn-al-Khatib,  of  Cor- 
dova, who  died  in  the  tenth  century,  is  credited  with 
nearly  eleven  hundred  works  on  metaphysics,  history, 
and  medicine.  Ibn-Hasen  composed  four  hundred 
and  fifty  books  on  philosophy  and  jurisprudence. 
Another  writer  left  behind  him  eighty  thousand  pages 
of  closely  written  manuscript.  It  was  no  unusual  cir- 
cumstance for  a  dictionary  or  an  encyclopaedia  to 
number  fifty  volumes.  Conunentaries  on  theology, 
religious  tradition,  and  law  were  almost  infinite  in  the 
extent  and  diversity  of  their  topics.  The  historical 
productions  of  the  Spanish  Arabs  were  probably  the 
most  minute  and  voluminous  ever  published  by  any 
people,  and  their  scrupulous  fidelity  to  truth  has  been 
repeatedly  established  by  the  comparison  of  their  de- 
scriptions with  the  ardiitectural  monuments  which 
have  descended  to  us,  and  by  the  corroborative  evi- 
dence of  distant  and  often  hostile  writers.  The 
authors  are  usually  deficient,  however,  in  the  applica- 
tion, and  often  even  in  the  knowledge,  of  the  canons 
of  historical  criticism;  their  love  of  the  marvellous 
occasionally  interferes  with  their  judgment,  and  their 
descriptions,  overloaded  with  florid  rhetoric,  belong 
rather  to  the  province  of  the  orator  than  to  that  of  the 
accurate  and  discriminating  historian.  More  than  a 
thousand  chroniclers  have  illustrated  the  annals  of 
Moorish  Spain.  Their  style,  at  once  turgid  and  ob- 
scure, often  renders  their  meaning  unintelligible,  while 
their  text  is  overburdened  with  puerile  anecdotes, 


426  HisroBY  of  the 

Koranic  allusions,  and  perplexing  Oriental  metaphors. 
Generations  passed  in  another  land,  under  conditions 
of  extraordinary  political  and  industrial  activity, 
seemed  powerless  to  eradicate  or  even  to  substan- 
tially modify  the  mental  characteristics  of  a  race  bred 
amidst  the  solitude  and  dominated  by  the  prejudices 
and  the  superstitions  of  the  Asiatic  Desert.  The  stub- 
bom  persistence  of  these  traits  is  one  of  the  most 
singular  phases  of  its  life  and  history.  Its  polity  and 
its  religious  belief  were  foreign  to,  and  irreconcilable 
with,  those  that  prevailed  elsewhere  in  Europe.  Its 
customs,  its  language,  its  literature  were  all  exotic.  In 
works  of  imagination,  the  elegant  fictions  of  the  East, 
fascinating  to  the  highest  degree,  and  better  adapted 
to  the  expanding  intellect  of  man  than  the  coarse 
and  barbaric  tales  of  Gothic  origin,  soon  supplanted 
the  latter,  as  the  light  and  keen-edged  scimetar  had 
already  driven  out  the  clumsy  broadsword  of  the 
followers  of  Roderick.  The  practical  methods  of 
thought  founded  upon  the  system  of  Aristotle  every- 
where obtained  precedence  over  the  unsubstantial  and 
visionary  theories  of  the  Platonic  school.  In  public 
assemblies,  where  men  and  women  alike  competed  for 
the  prize  of  literary  superiority;  in  social  intercourse, 
where  the  fair  sex  were  accorded  far  more  liberty  than 
had  ever  been  vouchsafed  to  the  matrons  and  virgins 
of  antiquity,  or  than  is  now  enjoyed  in  the  harems  of 
the  Orient,  were  developed  and  practised  those  ameni- 
ties and  graces  which,  fostered  by  songs  of  love  and 
gallantry,  eventually,  through  the  agency  of  bard  and 
minstrel,  were  distributed  far  and  wide  throughout  the 
continent  of  Europe.  The  desire  for  learning  and  ihe 
appreciation  of  its  advantages  were  so  imiversal  as  to 
be  considered  national  characteristics.  The  Khalif  was 
the  discriminating  and  generous  patron  of  genius. 
His  favorite  ministers  were  those  whose  productions 
had  raised  them  to  deserved  eminence  in  the  world  of 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubope  427 

letters.  In  the  Moslem  system,  a  competent  acquaint- 
ance with  the  principles  of  jurisprudence  was  an  essen- 
tial requisite  of  every  finished  education.  The  won- 
derful grasp  of  the  Arab  mind,  which  seemed  to  adapt 
itself  with  equal  facility  to  the  most  opposite  condi- 
tions, was  especially  fitted  for  the  exacting  require- 
ments of  diplomacy, — ^a  calling  for  which  proficiency 
in  learning  has,  in  later  times,  come  to  be  regarded 
rather  as  a  disqualification  than  an  advantage.  The 
greatest  scholars,  therefore,  discharged  the  most  im- 
portant employments,  and  stood  highest  in  the  pre- 
carious favor  of  the  Moslem  princes  of  Europe. 
Their  literary  productions  were  recompensed  with 
even  greater  munificence  than  their  services  to  the 
state.  They  almost  constituted  a  caste,  so  marked 
were  their  pride  and  exclusiveness.  Untold  wealth 
was  lavished  upon  them.  They  took  precedence  of 
nobles  who  traced  their  ancestry  to  a  period  lost  in 
the  mazes  of  Arabic  tradition.  Their  daughters,  occu- 
pants of  the  imperial  harems,  not  infrequently  became 
the  mothers  of  sovereigns.  Their  ostentatious  mag- 
nificence moved  the  envy  of  the  most  opulent  subjects 
of  the  empire.  Their  residences  were  not  inferior  in 
extent  and  splendor  to  the  habitations  of  royalty. 
Great  retinues  of  slaves  attended  their  progress 
through  the  streets.  Soldiers  in  uniforms  of  silk  and 
gold  guarded  their  palaces,  preceded  their  march,  and 
protected  their  persons  from  the  effects  of  popular 
violence.  The  most  lovely  women  to  be  procured  in 
the  slave-markets  of  Europe  and  Asia  filled  their 
seraglios. 

The  poet,  the  astronomer,  and  the  historian,  raised 
to  posts  of  high  political  responsibility,  enjoyed  the 
confidence  and  the  intimate  familiarity  of  the  mon- 
arch in  whose  presence  the  most  distinguished  soldiers 
trembled.  Such  was  the  grateful  tribute  paid  by  im- 
perial power  to  intellectual  pre-eminence.    That  this 


428  HiSTOBT  OF  THR 

extraordinary  favor  i^ould  not  be  abused  oould 
scarcely  have  been  expected  from  even  the  strongest 
understandings  when  subjected  to  the  temptations  of 
flattery  and  ambition.  The  lessons  of  philosophy  were 
insufficient  to  correct  the  ignoble  vices  inseparably 
incident  to  hiunan  nature,  and  which,  in  all  ages,  have 
exercised  despotic  influence  over  the  mind  of  man. 
The  insolence  and  rapacity  of  these  ministers  rendered 
them  oflTensive  to  the  people;  their  dangerous  aspira- 
tions eventually  excited  the  fears  of  the  sovereign. 
No  class  of  men  was  so  universally  detested.  The 
ancient  chronicles  are  flUed  with  accounts  of  their 
cruelty,  their  injustice,  and  their  misfortunes.  Some 
were  sacrificed  to  the  jealousy  of  their  master,  otiiers 
fell  victims  to  the  unreasoning  fury  of  the  populace. 
Few  there  were  who  retained,  in  the  midst  of  great- 
ness, those  virtues  and  that  modesty  which  should 
always  characterize  the  noble  pursuit  of  letters,  suc- 
cess in  which  had  raised  these  statesmen  to  places  of 
such  consideration  and  authority.  While  the  Koran, 
as  interpreted  by  the  more  rigid  Mussulman  theolo- 
gians, discourages  scientific  inquiry  and  the  study  of 
natural  philosophy,  the  Khalif  s  of  Cordova,  in  more 
than  one  instance,  incurred  the  reproach  of  hetero- 
doxy through  the  indulgence  of  investigations  pro- 
hibited by  law  to  their  subjects,  and,  thus  encouraged, 
the  intelligent  society  of  the  capital  did  not  disdain  to 
adopt  the  noble  maxim  of  the  head  of  a  rival  sect, 
which  declares  that  "  the  ink  of  the  learned  is  as  pre- 
cious as  the  blood  of  the  martyrs,"  while  the  consistent 
believer  kept  constantly  in  remembrance  the  statement 
of  the  Prophet  that  on  the  Day  of  Judgment  a  rigid 
account  will  be  required  of  the  literary  opportunities 
improved  or  abused  by  the  Faithful.  Not  only  did 
these  great  princes  encourage  literature  by  the  be- 
stowal of  substantial  honors  and  rewards,  but  they 
themselves  won  in  that  field  laurels  more  profitable  and 


MOOBISH  EBiPDtE  IN  EUBOPE  429 

enduring  than  any  gained  in  the  most  successful  cam- 
paign against  the  infidel.  Abd-al-Rahman  I.  was  an 
astronomer  and  a  poet  of  unusual  ability.    Hischem 

I.  and  Al-Hakem  I.  were  among  the  best  informed 
scholars  and  critics  of  their  time.  The  talents  and 
learning  which  rendered  illustrious  the  life  and  char- 
acter of  Abd-al-Rahman  II.,  his  acquaintance  with 
the  sciences  of  law  and  natural  philosophy,  his  patron- 
age of  letters,  caused  him  to  be  compared  to  Al- 
Mamum,  the  most  renowned  of  the  Khalif  s  of  Bag- 
dad.   The  erudition  and  acquirements  of  Al-Hakem 

II.  were  prodigious;  the  volumes  of  the  immense 
library  of  Cordova  were  enriched  by  notes  and  com- 
ments in  his  own  hand,  and  such  was  his  zeal  that  his 
eyesight  was  ultimately  sacrified  to  the  assiduity  with 
which  he  applied  himself  to  every  branch  of  knowl- 
edge. The  imperial  dignity,  great  as  it  appeared  at 
its  culmination,  during  his  reign  was  the  least  im- 
portant of  his  titles  to  eminence.  In  the  golden  age 
of  Arabic  literature,  he  stood  conspicuous  amidst 
thousands  of  distinguished  writers,  jurists,  annalists, 
biographers.  A  critical  history  of  Andalusia  which 
he  composed  was  famous  for  its  accuracy  and  for  the 
vast  stores  of  information  it  contained,  and,  widely 
read,  it  long  remained  a  monument  to  the  remarkable 
erudition  and  industry  of  its  author.  No  scholar  of 
his  time  was  his  superior  in  depth  and  variety  of  intel- 
lectual attainments.  He  was  the  master  of  many 
languages  and  dialects.  He  wrote  with  equal  fluency 
and  elegance  on  almost  every  subject.  Nothing 
pleased  bim  so  much  as  the  perusal  of  a  new  and  valu- 
able work,  and  the  accumulation  of  books  was  with 
him  a  passion,  which  supplanted  the  duty  of  prosely- 
tism  and  the  lust  of  power.  His  library  was  so  ex- 
tensive that  it  overflowed  the  great  building  which  had 
been  erected  for  its  reception,  and  whose  treasures,  the 
masterpieces  of  every  nation — Greek,  Roman,  Byzan- 


1 


480  HiSrOKT  OF  THE 

tine,  Egyptian,  Persian,  Hebrew,  and  Arabic — ^were 
the  delight  of  ihe  learned  and  the  marvel  of  an  illiter- 
ate and  superstitious  age. 

Abdallah  attained  distinction  by  the  plaintive  ele- 
gies in  which  he  celebrated  the  misfortunes  of  his 
house;  Suleyman  was  dreaded  for  the  cutting  verses 
in  whidh  he  satirized  the  treachery  and  hypocrisy  of  the 
city  and  the  court. 

The  spirit  of  literary  taste  and  rivalry  which  had 
inspired  the  accomplished  society  of  the  Uialif  ate  was 
not  lost  with  the  dismemberment  of  the  empire.  The 
capital  of  each  principality  became  a  centre  of  culture, 
of  learning,  of  the  arts.  The  rulers  of  these  petty 
states,  whose  population  still  retained,  amidst  the  tur- 
bulent scenes  of  civil  discord  and  foreign  encroach- 
ment, no  small  measure  of  that  intelligence  and  taste 
which  had  so  eminently  distinguished  their  fathers, 
vied  with  each  other  in  tiieir  encouragement  of  science 
and.  in  their  patronage  of  learned  men.  In  this  noble 
emulation,  as  well  as  in  their  own  scholastic  acquire- 
ments, the  Moorish  princes  maintained  the  fame  of 
their  ancestors  and  the  traditions  of  the  monarchy. 
Every  facility  was  afforded  to  the  professors  of 
experimental  science.  Political  honors,  salaries, 
pensions,  attracted  the  scholars  of  distant  countries. 
Religious  intolerance  had  no  place  in  a  society  whose 
cardinal  principle  was  absolute  liberty  of  thought,  and 
which  had  long  been  accustomed  to  consider  the  un- 
trammelled exercise  of  reason  as  an  inherent  and  in- 
alienable right.  Al-Moktadir,  King  of  Saragossa, 
was  renowned  for  his  erudition ;  his  knowledge  of  phi- 
losophy, geometry,  and  astronomy  was  superior  to 
that  of  any  of  the  wise  men  of  his  court.  Al-Mod- 
haffer,  King  of  Badajoz,  compiled  a  great  encyclo- 
paedia. The  rulers  of  Almeria,  Valencia,  and  Seville 
were  not  less  distinguished  for  their  profound  scholar- 
ship and  the  protection  they  afforded  to  letters.    The 


Moorish  Empire  ix  Europe  481 

monarchs  of  the  Abbadide  dynasty,  and  especially 
Motamid  II.,  were  renowned  for  the  harmony  and 
pathos  of  theur  verses.  The  Almohade  sovereign, 
Abd-al-Mumen,  the  nominal  representative  of  the  de- 
stroying principle  of  fanaticism,  was  the  admiring 
patron  of  Ibn-Tof  ail,  Ibn-Zohr,  and  Averroes,  three 
of  the  greatest  writers  who  ever  embellished  by  their 
talents  the  literature  of  any  age.  The  achievements 
of  the  Alhamares  of  Granada  in  the  world  of  art  and 
science,  and  the  culture  of  their  court — ^the  last  refuge 
of  learning  in  medisval  Europe — form  the  most  at- 
tractive episode  in  the  annals  of  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries. 

Encouraged  by  the  example  and  the  patronage  of 
royalty,  the  mental  development  of  the  masses  ad- 
vanced with  gigantic  strides.  The  spirit  of  progress, 
the  incentives  of  a  lofty  ambition,  animated  all  orders 
and  conditions  of  men.  So  universal  was  the  thirst  for 
knowledge  that  even  the  blind,  though  hampered  by 
the  unkindness  of  nature,  were  still  able,  in  that  age 
of  intellectual  rivalry,  to  attain  a  high  rank  in  the 
scale  of  literary  excellence.  The  rhyming  dictionaries, 
suggestive  memorials  of  perverted  and  laborious  in- 
genuity; the  impassioned  poems,  bom  of  a  tropical 
dime  and  a  sensual  religion;  the  unprecedented  and 
rapid  progress  attained  in  the  exact  sciences;  the 
voluminous  works  on  theology  and  history,  and  the 
incredible  erudition  of  their  authors,  the  numerous 
universities,  the  grand  libraries,  the  competitive  ex- 
aminations, the  public  contests  for  literary  prece- 
dence and  royal  favor,  attest  a  degree  of  enlighten- 
ment little  to  be  expected  from  a  people  sprung  from 
a  barbarian  and  idolatrous  ancestry,  and  are  all  the 
more  remarkable  when  contrasted  with  the  degrada- 
tion of  contemporaneous  Europe.  Fanaticism  and 
prejudice  closed  to  the  inquisitive. mind  of  the  Mos- 
lem some  of  the  most  important  stores  of  classic 


482  HiBTOSY  OF  THE 

wisdom.  For,  while  the  natural  philosophers  and 
historians  of  Athens  were  studied  with  the  greatest 
assiduity,  Mohammedan  piety  rejected  with  abhor- 
rence the  sublime  creations  of  Grecian  poetry  on 
account  of  the  gross  fictions  of  its  mythology,  so  re- 
pugnant to  the  exalted  ideas  of  the  unity  and  perfec- 
tion of  God.  Nor  was  the  fiery  and  impassioned 
nature  of  the  Arab  capable  of  appreciating  the  dig- 
nity of  heroic  verse  or  the  measured  cadence  and 
majestic  pomp  of  the  Attic  drama.  It  delighted 
in  stirring  lyrics,  satirical  epigrams,  amatory  songs, 
and  pathetic  elegiac  lays.  The  marked  influence  ex- 
erted by  Arabic  poetry  on  the  civilization  of  Europe 
has  already  been  referred  to  in  these  pages.  Its 
matter  is  frequently  overloaded  with  quaint  con- 
ceits and  obscure  allusions,  its  lucidity  habitually 
sacrificed  to  difficult  feats  of  riiyme,  its  style  disfig- 
ured by  extravagant  metaphor  and  hyperbole.  Love 
of  the  beautiful,  the  marvellous,  the  supernatural  were 
the  most  prominent  characteristics  of  Arabic  writers, 
and  from  the  effects  of  these  national  propensities 
even  dignified  works  on  scientific  subjects  were  not 
entirely  free. 

Learned  and  voluminous  as  were  the  purely  literary 
productions  of  the  Hispano-Arab  scholars,  tiiey  were 
of  secondary  importance  when  compared  with  the 
practical  achievements  of  the  experimenters  in  the 
world  of  science.  The  Saracens  introduced  into  West- 
em  Europe  the  Indian  nimierals,  the  tabulated  ob- 
servations of  Babylon,  and  the  discoveries  of  the 
astronomers  of  the  Alexandrian  School.  These  wise 
investigators  examined  the  effect  of  gravity,  and  nar- 
rowly missed  ascertaining  its  principles;  they  con- 
structed the  pendulum  clock  and  the  balance;  they 
explained  with  perspicuity  and  exactness  the  origin  of 
many  hitherto  mysterious  physical  occurrences  which 
popular  ignorance  was  accustomed  to  ascribe  to  super* 


MOOBISH  EmPIKE  Df  EuEOPE  438 

natural  intervention  raUier  than  to  the  inexorable  and 
necessary  operation  of  Nature's  laws.  They  were  the 
first  to  demonstrate  that  the  aerolite  was  a  cosmic 
fragment  and  not  a  missile  of  Divine  wrath,  and  to 
subject  the  substances  of  which  it  was  composed  to 
chemical  analysis.  They  formulated  a  table  of  specific 
gravities,  and  the  densities  of  bodies  as  laid  down  by 
them  is  said  by  Tyndall  not  to  vary  essentially  from 
those  accepted  at  the  present  day.  They  understood 
the  force  of  capillary  attraction;  they  had  approxi- 
mated to  the  true  height  of  the  atmosphere,  and  had 
noted  its  diminished  weight  at  a  distance  from  the 
earth.  As  early  as  the  tenth  century  they  had  formed 
singularly  correct  ideas  of  the  nature  and  causes  of 
many  geological  phenomena, — such  as  the  varying 
erosion  of  strata  by  the  action  of  the  elements,  the 
presence  of  fossil  remains  on  the  summits  of  mountain 
ranges  and  the  difi^erent  characteristics  they  exhibited 
according  as  their  origin  was  terrestrial  or  aquatic, 
the  elevation  and  depression  of  the  surface  of  the 
globe  extending  through  inconceivably  protracted 
periods  of  time.  Both  chemistry  and  pharmacy  were 
pursued  with  remarkable  success  in  the  laboratories 
of  Moorish  Spain.  Medicine  and  surgery  especially 
engaged  the  attention  of  the  ambitious  student,  who 
found  an  enthusiastic  and  dangerous  competitor  for 
distinction  in  the  Hebrew,  whose  attainments  and  skill 
not  imfrequently  placed  him  at  the  head  of  his  pro- 
fession. Dissection  was  not  unknown,  but  reverence 
for  the  dead  preserved  the  hmnan  form  from  the 
scalpel,  and  the  anatomical  researches  of  the  Arab 
surgeon  were,  in  public  at  least,  limited  to  animals  of 
the  lower  orders,  multitudes  of  which  were  annually 
sacrificed  to  the  demands  of  science.  In  that  noble 
pin*suit  which  has  for  its  object  the  determination  of 
the  motions  of  the  celestial  bodies,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  their  relations  with  each  other  and  with  the 

Vol.  III.— 88 


4i84i  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

universe,  the  Hispano-Arab,  as  in  the  investigation 
of  other  natural  phenomena  and  in  the  solution  of 
abstruse  philosophical  problems,  evinced  a  rare  and 
peculiar  aptitude.  In  Moorish  Spain,  as  in  Chaldea, 
Babylonia,  and  ancient  Egypt — ^where  all  astronomers 
were  priests — ^the  sanctuary  of  God  was  in  part  de- 
voted to  the  study  of  the  most  sublime  and  wonderful 
of  His  creations,  the  visible  heavens.  Gnomons,  astro- 
labes, dioptras,  solstitial  and  equinoctial  armils,  were 
placed  upon  the  minarets  of  the  most  sacred  temples. 
The  calculations  of  the  observer  were  completed  in  tiie 
academical  institution  which  Moslem  tradition  and 
practice  caused  to  be  attached  to  every  building  con- 
secrated to  the  worship  of  Allah.  No  profession 
ranked  higher  than  that  of  the  astronomer.  The 
sovereign  loaded  him  with  wealth  and  honors.  In  the 
mosque  he  was  received  with  a  consideration  not  in- 
ferior to  that  exacted  by  the  most  revered  expounders 
of  the  Mohammedan  law.  The  populace,  recognizing 
in  him  a  mysterious  personage  who  in  secret  held  com- 
mtmion  with  other  worlds,  and  too  often  confounding 
him  with  the  astrologer,  gave  way  as  he  traversed  the 
streets,  and  in  whispers  spoke  of  him  as  the  heir  of 
the  wisdom  of  Solomon  and  as  a  mortal  invested  with 
supernatural  powers.  The  study  of  the  heavens  was 
greatly  promoted  by  the  progress  made  in  the  science 
of  optics,  and  by  the  lucid  explanation  of  illusions  due 
to  atmospheric  refraction.  In  this  way  the  twinkling 
of  the  stars,  the  apparent  inequality  of  the  horizontal 
and  vertical  diameters  of  the  planets,  and  the  pro- 
longation of  the  day  after  sunset  were  accounted  for. 
The  invention  of  the  telescope,  the  comparison  of  ob- 
servations taken  at  widely  distant  stations  in  every 
portion  of  the  globe,  the  perfection  of  apparatus 
which  measures,  weighs,  and  separates  the  component 
elements  of  our  atmosphere,  the  intelligent  applica- 
tion of  the  principles  of  physics,  and  the  progressive 


MooBiSH  Empire  in  Eubofe  485 

experience  of  nine  hundred  years  have  not  affected 
the  definiteness  and  scientific  accuracy  of  these  con- 
clusions. 

The  Spanish  Moslems  possessed  both  terrestrial  and 
celestial  globes;  some  were  composed  of  brass,  others 
of  massy  silver.  Their  astronomical  instruments  were 
beautifully  made,  and  were  graduated  with  the 
greatest  minuteness  and  precision.  They  had  ten  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  quadrants,  one  of  the  most  ingenious 
and  complete  having  been  invented  by  Al-Zarkal,  of 
Toledo.  They  made  use  of  clocks  moved  by  water, 
sand,  and  weights.  The  Arabic  armillary  spheres  and 
astrolabes  preserved  in  the  museums  of  Europe  are 
not  surpassed  by  the  most  laborious  efforts  of  modem 
ingenuity  in  excellence  of  finish,  and  in  the  accuracy 
of  adjustment  which  implies  the  possession  by  the 
artisan  of  a  competent  knowledge  of  the  delicate 
operations  for  which  they  were  intended.  It  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  these  instruments,  through  whose 
agency  such  wonderful  results  were  achieved,  will 
compare  favorably  in  elegance  of  construction  with 
the  optical  appliances  of  the  best  equipped  observa- 
tory of  to-day. 

To  facilitate  the  investigations  of  the  natural  his- 
torian, there  were  numerous  zoological  collections, 
where  the  habits  and  characteristics  of  animals  and 
birds  of  every  description  could  be  observed  and  noted 
for  the  present  entertainment  and  futm^  profit  of 
mankind.  The  royal  botanical  gardens  contained  an 
endless  variety  of  plants,  both  indigenous  and  exotic, 
cultivated  for  their  brilliant  foliage,  their  grateful 
fragrance,  or  their  culinary  and  medicinal  virtues. 

The  portentous  development  of  Arabic  intellectual 
activity  presents  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  in- 
structive examples  of  progress  in  the  history  of  the 
human  mind.  The  Bedouin  was  a  typical  barbarian 
and  freebooter.    He  had  no  organized  government, 


486  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

and  acknowledged  no  pennanent  autlioritjr.  Witfaoat 
a  settled  habitation,  he  despised  all  who  pursaed  Uie 
avocations  of  peace.  He  subsisted  by  pillage.  His 
religion  was  debased,  cruel,  idolatrous.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few  poems  and  some  collections  of  tales 
recoimting  the  exploits  of  spirits  and  magicians,  he 
had  nothing  which  could  be  dignified  by  the  name  of 
literature.  It  is  true  that  his  language  was  one  of  the 
most  copious  and  flexible  ever  devised  by  man,  but  its 
powers  had  never  been  tested  and  were  practically  un- 
known. Even  the  courage  of  the  Arab  was  not  ex- 
empt from  suspicion,  and  he  notoriously  preferred  the 
advantages  of  ambuscade  and  siuprise  to  the  more 
hazardous  encounter  of  the  open  field.  Almost  his 
sole,  certainly  his  most  conspicuous,  virtue  was  hos- 
pitality; but  every  consideration  of  friendship  and 
courtesy  was  forgotten  as  soon  as  the  guest  of  Ihe 
night  had  quitted  the  precincts  of  his  camp.  The 
prevalence  of  such  conditions  was,  it  must  be  admitted, 
eminently  unfavorable  to  the  encouragement  of 
science  and  letters.  The  Arab  conqueror,  therefore, 
in  the  prosecution  of  his  hterary  career,  owed  nothing 
to  the  usually  powerful  influence  of  national  tradition 
and  example.  His  first  important  act  was  the  de- 
struction of  the  great  library  of  Alexandria,  his  sec- 
ond the  spoliation  of  the  monuments  of  the  Pharaohs, 
and  the  razing — ^in  order  to  obtain  materials  for  his 
own  inferior  constructions — of  the  vast  structures  of 
Greek  and  Roman  antiquity  which  adorned  that 
famous  capital.  The  thoroughness  with  which  this 
work  was  accomplished  is  demonstrated  by  the  total 
absence  of  any  remains  of  those  superb  edifices  which 
were  alike  the  pride  of  the  Macedonian  dynasty  and 
the  boast  of  the  age  of  Augustus  and  Hadrian.  In 
these  acts  of  violence  he  only  followed  the  inherent 
destructive  and  predatory  instincts  of  his  race.  Con- 
tact with  civilization  and  experience  of  its  benefits. 


MooBiiH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  487 

however,  soon  wrought  a  change  in  his  nature,  a 
change  momentous  in  its  results  and  which  has  no 
parallel  in  the  annals  of  human  advancement.  A  cen- 
tury after  the  Hegira,  the  descendant  of  the  vagrant 
Bedouin  had  attained  a  remarkable  predominance  in 
every  department  of  polite  literature  and  scientific 
knowledge.  The  impulse  which  wrought  this  mighty 
intellectual  transformation  was  imparted  by  Egypt, 
and  sprang  from  the  historical  and  philosophical 
reminiscences  of  the  Alexandrian  Museum.  That  re- 
nowned institution  was  the  unique  and  practical  em- 
bodiment of  the  passion  for  innovation,  of  the  inven- 
tive faculty,  of  the  utilitarian  spirit  of  the  ancient 
world.  The  doctrines  of  the  higher  antiquity  were,  as 
is  well  known,  largely  theoretical  and  speculative. 
The  occasional  appearance  of  men  of  genius  like  Hip- 
pocrates and  Aristotle  only  served  to  emphasize  the 
worthless  character  of  the  verbose  and  unprofitable 
disquisitions  of  the  schools  of  Greek  philosophy.  An- 
terior to  the  fourth  century  before  Christ,  science  owed 
little  to  experiment,  and  all  knowledge  of  any  value 
was  empirical,  or  the  result  of  purely  accidental  dis- 
covery. No  intelligent  method  of  investigation 
existed.  No  system  which  had  for  its  object  the 
physical  amelioration  of  humanity  was  deemed  worthy 
of  attention.  Such  practical  aims  were  trifles  and 
beneath  the  dignity  of  the  wise  man  of  that  age.  His 
time  was  occupied  in  attempts  to  explain  the  nature 
of  the  soul,  to  define  the  supreme  good,  to  discover 
the  original  essence  of  all  created  things,  to  demon- 
strate the  fancied  harmony  or  dissonance  of  numbers. 
In  these  absurd  and  fruitless  occupations  were  wasted 
intellectual  abilities  which,  properly  directed,  might 
have  changed  the  aspect  of  nature  and  the  condition 
of  society  many  centuries  before  modem  inventive 
genius  was  afforded  an  opportimity  to  exhibit  its 
marvellous  powers.    The  shrewd  and  discerning  sol- 


488  History  of  the 

dier,  who,  in  the  partition  of  empire,  received  as  his 
share  the  ancient  dominion  of  Egypt,  pursued  a 
diametrically  opposite  course  in  the  policy  he  adopted 
for  the  promotion  of  education  and  literature.  He 
imited  the  culture  of  Macedon  and  the  venerable  tra- 
ditions of  the  civilization  of  Persia  with  the  experience 
gained  in  many  campaigns.  His  skeptical  and  arbi- 
trary nature  had  little  sympathy  with  the  abject  super- 
stitions of  his  Egyptian  subjects,  and  still  less  with 
the  despotic  pretensions  of  their  priesthood.  His  posi- 
tion as  ruler  invested  him  with  almost  theocratical 
authority.  Scarcely  wm  he  seated  upon  the  throne 
before  a  radical  change  was  resolved  upon.  The 
genius  of  Ptolemy  impelled  him  to  attempt  the  modi- 
fication of  a  system,  sanctified  by  the  practice  of  im- 
memorial antiquity,  in  such  a  way  that  its  outward 
observance  would  not  be  repugnant  to  Greek  intelli- 
gence nor,  by  the  violation  of  long-established  preju- 
dices, the  stability  of  the  newly  constituted  govern- 
ment be  endangered.  To  accomplish  this  end,  the 
worship  of  Serapis,  the  representative  of  Oriental 
Pantheism,  was  introduced.  This  strange  co-ordina- 
tion of  skepticism  and  idolatry  was  productive  of 
remarkable  consequences.  The  Egyptians  admitted 
with  enthusiasm  a  new  god  into  their  Pantheon.  The 
Ptolemaic  dynasty  was  placed  upon  a  firm  and  en- 
during basis.  In  the  magnificent  temple  where  was 
enshrined  the  image  of  the  divinity,  whose  nominal 
worship  became  of  such  importance  to  future  civiliza- 
tion, a  grand  institution  of  learning,  totally  unlike  any 
that  had  hitherto  imparted  instruction  to  man,  was 
established.  Considerations  of  practical  utility  were 
recognized  as  the  sole  and  legitimate  objects  of  its 
foundation.  Observation,  experiment,  debate,  occu- 
pied the  leisure  of  its  professors.  The  principles  of 
every  known  science  whose  application  could  enure  to 
the  benefit  of  humanity — ^medicine,  siu'gery,  astron- 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  489 

omy,  botany,  physics — ^were  expounded  in  its  halls. 
Its  library,  subsequently  destroyed  by  Amru,  was  the 
greatest  collection  of  books  ever  assembled  in  ancient 
times.  The  fame  of  this  great  imiversity  soon  spread 
throughout  the  world.  The  number  of  students  who 
attended  its  lectures  was  incredible,  not  infrequently 
reaching  the  enormous  figure  of  thirteen  thousand. 
Their  ambition  was  excited  by  the  presence  of  the 
sovereign,  who  often  assisted  in  the  experiments  and 
participated  in  the  discussions. 

The  most  prominent  characteristic  of  this  imique 
educational  institution  was  the  catholic  spirit  which 
it  manifested  towards  the  representatives  of  hostile 
religious  systems.  Paganism  was  the  recognized  wor- 
ship of  the  state.  Its  temples  were  numerous,  its 
ceremonials  of  sacrifice,  divination,  and  augury  were 
performed  with  every  accessory  which  could  be  af- 
forded by  unlimited  wealth  and  prodigal  munificence. 
Yet  the  philosophical  doctrines  consecrated  by  a  hoary 
antiquity,  and  whose  study  has  given  rise  to  modem 
agnosticism,  were  highly  esteemed  by  the  educated 
classes  of  Egypt.  It  was  to  facilitate  their  introduc- 
tion and  acceptance  that  the  scofiing  Greeks  had  con- 
sented with  mock  solemnity  to  prostrate  themselves 
before  the  altar  of  Serapis.  The  Jew,  elsewhere 
despised,  readily  found  a  respectful  audience  for  his 
monotheistic  principles  in  the  cosmopolitan  society  of 
Alexandria,  and,  what  was  to  him  of  far  greater 
moment,  an  opportunity  to  reap  enormous  profits 
from  the  commercial  advantages  offered  by  the  most 
flourishing  metropolis  in  the  world.  The  fabled  gene- 
alogies of  the  Oljrmpian  deities  were  perused  by 
Jewish  scholars  witii  the  same  attention,  if  not  with 
the  same  respect,  as  the  sacred  legends  of  the  Hebrew 
race.  The  poems  of  Homer  survived  to  delight  pos- 
terity through  the  editions  of  the  Alexandrian  Mu- 
seum; the  Greek  version  of  the  Old  Testament,  known 


4li0  HurroBY  of  the 

as  the  Septuagint,  published  by  Ptolemy  Philadd- 
phus,  is  still  an  authority  with  erudite  tiieologians. 
The  spirit  of  inquiry  was  the  dominating  factor  of 
the  Ptolemaic  educational  and  philosophical  systems. 
Every  hypothesis  was  rejected  which  could  not  stand 
the  test  of  practical  experiment  and  demonstration. 
No  fact  was  considered  too  insignificant  to  be  made 
the  subject  of  intelligent  and  exhaustive  scrutiny. 
The  most  abstruse  problems  of  mathematical  and 
physical  science,  the  most  obscure  and  difficult  qu^- 
tions  concerning  life — ^its  origin,  its  progress,  its  de- 
cay— ^were  daily  proposed  for  investigation  and  solu- 
tion. The  study  of  biology  was  one  of  the  favorite 
pursuits  of  the  Alexandrian  School,  and  it  is  not 
impossible  that  topics  which  in  recent  years  have  so 
deeply  engaged  the  attention  of  the  learned  may  have 
been  a  subject  of  its  profound  and  labored  disquisi- 
tions. Among  these  was,  perhaps,  the  doctrine  of  the 
Survival  of  the  Fittest,  which  was  not  imfamiliar  to 
the  Greeks,  for  its  adoption  is  advocated  by  Plato  in 
his  Republic,  and  its  practical  application  was  long  a 
leading  principle  of  the  Code  of  Lacedsemon.  The 
rational  procedure  employed  in  the  study  of  medicine 
and  surgery  was  most  favorable  to  the  prosecution  of 
biological  and  physiological  research.  These  sciences 
were  established  upon  the  solid  foundation  of  ana- 
tomical demonstration.  Autopsies  and  vivisections 
were  of  daily  occurrence.  The  active  participation  of 
the  kings  in  the  operations  of  the  clinic  was  due,  no 
doubt,  to  a  desire  to  discover  the  secret  of  longevity, 
and  to  justify  by  their  sanction  proceedings  which  the 
prejudices  of  all  the  races  of  antiquity  branded  as 
desecrations,  actions  abhorrent  to  reverence  and  de- 
cency. Many  notable  discoveries  were  the  result  of 
these  enlightened  methods.  The  offices  of  the  inter- 
nal organs,  the  ramifications  of  the  venous  system, 
the  form  and  convolutions  of  the  brain,  the  phe- 


MooEiSH  Empibs  in  Europe  411 

nomena  of  respiration,  digestion,  and  procreation, 
were  described  in  terms  remarkable  for  correctness 
and  lucidity.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that  in  the  midst 
of  all  these  anatomical  investigations,  many  of  which 
were  made  upon  the  bodies  of  living  animals,  the 
peculiar  function  of  the  arteries  remained  unknown. 
The  Alexandrian  academicians  supposed  that  they 
were  intended,  in  their  normal  condition,  for  the  cir- 
culation of  air,  and  the  vast  period  of  thirteen  cen- 
turies was  destined  to  elapse  before  the  genius  of 
Harvey  designated  their  true  place  in  the  human 
economy.  Herophilus  explained  the  relations  of  the 
brain  and  the  nervous  system.  Erasistratus  estab- 
lished the  distinction  between  the  nerves  of  sensation 
and  motion.  Alexandria  aboimded  in  specialists  of 
every  kind, — oculists,  lithotomists,  surgeons  who 
treated  the  diseases  of  women.  The  practice  of  medi- 
cine was  indirectly  aided  by  a  pursuit  of  a  widely 
divergent  character,  the  cultivation  of  alchemy.  As, 
afterwards,  under  the  Arabs,  though  not  with  such 
marked  results,  this  delusion,  through  the  discoveries 
induced  by  its  study,  proved  of  substantial  service  to 
the  intelligent  physician.  The  department  of  the 
Materia  Medica  was  enriched  by  the  importation  of 
drugs,  and  by  the  cultivation,  in  botanical  gardens,  of 
foreign  plants  of  great  medicinal  value.  The  school 
of  the  Ptolemies  was  so  famous  that  an  attendance 
upon  its  lectures,  for  however  short  a  period,  con- 
ferred upon  a  practitioner  great  professional  distinc- 
tion. All  of  the  celebrated  medical  men  of  antiquity, 
with  the  single  exception  of  Hippocrates,  derived 
their  information,  and  were  indebted  for  their  success, 
to  the  Alexandrian  Museum.  The  extraordinary  im- 
pulse imparted  to  all  branches  of  science  by  this  splen- 
did institution  was  not  materially  checked  for  cen- 
turies. Before  its  foimdation  astronomy  had  long 
been  stationary,  but  with  the  facilities  it  afforded  a 


442  History  of  the 

gigantic  advance  was  accomplished.  The  heavens 
were  mapped  out  and  the  constellations  defined.  The 
stars  were  catalogued.  The  motions  of  the  planets 
were  observed  and  compared,  and  the  erroneous  but 
plausible  system  of  eccentrics  and  epicycles  invented 
to  account  for  the  various  phases  they  presented  at 
different  times.  The  globular  form  of  the  earth  was 
demonstrated  to  the  satisfaction  of  every  intelligent 
mind.  The  mechanism  and  cycles  of  eclipses,  the  pre- 
cession of  the  equinoxes,  the  first  and  second  inequali- 
ties of  the  moon  were  explained.  Estimates,  more  or 
less  approximated  to  correctness,  were  made  of  tiie 
dimensions  of  the  globe.  Its  surface  was  delineated, 
its  climates  described,  hypotheses  to  account  for  the 
phenomena  of  its  atmospheric  changes  advanced.  Be- 
sides those  already  referred  to,  all  sciences  of  a  prac- 
tical tendency — ^geometry,  botany,  natural  history — 
were  accorded  a  place  in  the  course  of  the  Museum; 
even  the  ordinarily  prohibited  studies  of  astrology  and 
divination  were  not  excluded.  The  names  of  such 
mathematicians  as  Euclid,  Archimedes,  and  Conon; 
of  such  astronomers  as  Ptolemy  and  Hipparchus;  of 
such  geographers  as  Eratosthenes;  of  sudi  geometers 
as  Apollonius  Pergseus;  of  such  ornithologists  as  Cal- 
limachus;  of  such  poets  as  Theocritus  and  Lycophron, 
suggest  the  infinite  obligations  of  posterity  to  the 
noble  institution  established  by  Ptolemy  Philadelphus 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Nile.  From  such  a  source  was  de- 
rived the  inspiration  of  Arab  intellectual  progress  that 
preserved  and  multiplied  the  precious  literary  treas- 
ures in  which  were  embodied  the  wisdom  and  the 
achievements  of  antiquity.  That  inspiration  was,  how- 
ever, destined  to  long  remain  dormant.  A  melancholy 
period  of  eleven  centuries  of  bigotry,  ferocity,  and 
ignorance  separates  the  Alexandrian  Museum  from 
the  University  of  Cordova. 

To  the  unrivalled  capabilities  of  the  Arabic  Ian- 


Mqobish  Empire  in  Eubofe  448 

guage  was  principally  due  the  success  of  those  who 
employed  it  in  all  branches  of  literature.  That  rich 
and  sonorous  idiom,  isolated  for  centuries  in  the 
Desert,  had  been  formed  and  perfected  without  con- 
tamination by  extraneous  influences.  The  peculiari- 
ties of  its  alphabet,  the  infinite  multitude  of  its  terms, 
the  complexity  of  its  conjugations,  and  the  obscurity 
of  style  whidb  its  writers  regard  as  an  excellence 
worthy  of  assiduous  cultivation,  render  its  mastery  by 
one  not  native  to  the  soil  a  task  of  almost  insuperable 
difficulty.  The  perfection  of  its  grammar  and  the  ele- 
gance of  its  construction  imply  many  centuries  of  use 
and  much  literary  practice  for  their  establishment. 
Each  tribe  had  contributed  to  its  copious  vocabulary. 
The  nimiber  of  synonyms  by  which  objects  of  com- 
mon occurrence  or  habitual  usage  are  designated  is 
enormous.  It  contains  eighty  names  for  honey,  two 
hundred  for  a  serpent,  five  hundred  for  a  lion,  one 
thousand  for  a  sword.  It  has  exerted  a  marked  and 
permanent  influence  on  the  idioms  and  the  literature 
of  Europe.  Many  of  our  most  familiar  English  terms 
have  come  down  from  it  unaltered.  French  abounds 
in  words  and  expressions  derived  from  the  same 
soiux^.  Spanish  has  been  called  a  corrupt  Arabic  dia- 
lect, and  its  richness  in  proverbs  is  due  to  the  use  of 
that  tongue  in  the  Peninsula  for  nine  hundred  years. 
The  influence  of  the  Sicilian  Moslems  on  Italian  is 
very  apparent.  The  Romance  languages  were  largely 
Arabic  and  Hebrew.  This  exuberance  gave  the  poet 
an  immense  advantage  for  the  exercise  of  his  talents. 
The  periodical  literary  assemblies,  popular  in  Arabia, 
had  the  efi^ect  of  improving  the  diction  of  the  com- 
petitors, and  contributed  greatly  to  the  embellishment 
of  the  language  in  which  their  poems  were  composed. 
Facility  of  versification  was  so  common  that  its  pos- 
session was  not  regarded  as  an  accomplishment,  ex- 
cept  where  it   produced  results   denoting   unusual 


4i4i4i  HlSTOEY  OF  THE       , 

ability.  So  many  words  have  a  similar  termination  in 
Arabic,  that  in  poems  of  considerable  length  the  same 
rhyme  is  alternately  made  use  of  from  beginning  to 
end.  Improvisatorial  skill,  so  highly  esteemed  by  the 
Moors,  was  rather  mechanical  than  the  result  of  poetic 
inspiration,  and  was  immensely  facilitated  by  the 
abimdance  of  terms  at  the  command  of  the  poet,  whose 
mind  was  trained  to  this  mental  exercise  from  child- 
hood. Arabic  versification  readily  adapts  itself  to 
every  quantity  and  variation  of  numbers  required  by 
the  practice  of  the  art  of  poetical  composition.  It  is 
lavish  in  the  use  of  metaphor,  simile,  antithesis.  In 
elegance  of  style,  in  brilliancy  of  expression,  and  in 
fertility  of  fancy  it  presents  examples  not  inferior  to 
the  finest  models  of  classic  antiquity.  Its  charac- 
teristic extravagance  was  the  result  of  national  taste, 
a  taste  often  perverted  by  a  passion  for  the  weird  and 
the  supernatural.  It  delights  in  the  representation  of 
abstractions  as  material  beings;  it  bestows  life  and 
speech  upon  the  zephyr  and  the  rose.  The  play  of 
words  in  which  it  abounds,  the  elaborate  and  quaint 
conceits  dependent  upon  pronunciation  and  upon 
phrases  susceptible  of  varied  significance,  while  liiey 
may  obscure  the  diction,  are  never  suffered  to  inter- 
fere with  the  harmony.  The  vivacity  of  Arabic  poetry 
is  one  of  its  greatest  charms.  Its  imagery  is  bom  of 
the  fiery  imagination  of  the  East ;  its  proficiency  in  the 
delineation  of  human  passion  is  the  fruit  of  centuries 
of  study,  reflection,  and  jealous  rivalry.  Perfect 
familiarity  with  the  poems  of  the  pre-Islamic  Bed- 
ouins, regarded  as  models  by  every  generation  of  their 
descendants,  was  considered  an  indispensable  qualifi- 
cation of  every  well-informed  scholar.  The  Arabs 
were  so  deeply  impressed  by  the  potent  influence  of 
poetical  genius  that  they  assigned  it  a  place  among 
the  kabbala  of  magical  science.  Rh3mies  were  intro- 
duced into  the  most  solemn  discussions.     An  im- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  445 

promptu  couplet  opportunely  spoken  was  often  the 
surest  recommendation  to  the  favor  of  a  prince. 
Poetic  sentiment  was  such  an  essential  characteristic 
of  the  Arah  intellect  that  even  grave  metaphysical 
and  historical  treatises  were  designated  by  the  most 
romantic  and  whimsical  titles. 

Under  the  Mohammedan  dynasties  of  Spain  the  wit 
and  skill  of  the  successful  poet  claimed  and  enjoyed 
the  highest  consideration.  It  has  been  aptly  remarked 
that  poetry  was  the  central  point  about  which  revolved 
the  intellectual  life  of  the  Andalusian  Moors.  Its  in- 
fluence upon  the  invaders  was  rather  augmented  than 
diminished  by  the  transplantation  of  the  lyrics  and 
satires  of  the  Desert  to  the  soil  of  Southern  Europe. 
The  universality  of  its  cultivation  and  the  honors  and 
emoluments  which  rewarded  popularity  expanded  its 
productions  to  an  enormous  volume.  At  the  close  of 
the  reign  of  Al-Hakem  II.,  hundreds  of  manuscripts 
were  required  for  the  catalogues  of  the  poetical  works 
which  crowded  the  shelves  of  the  imperial  libraries. 
Verse  was  employed  alike  in  the  most  momentous  and 
the  most  unimportant  transactions  of  life,  in  the  con- 
gratulation of  royalty,  in  the  celebration  of  triumphs, 
in  the  famiUar  intercourse  of  neighbors  and  friends, 
in  the  frivolities  and  gossip  of  the  seraglio.  Its  power 
over  the  nature  of  the  sensitive  and  impulsive  Asiatic 
cannot  be  measured.  It  diminished  the  agony  of  the 
suffering.  It  hastened  the  cure  of  the  convalescent. 
Its  voice  brought  temporary  oblivion  to  the  dungeon 
of  the  captive,  its  pictiu'es  of  paradise  lighted  the  dark 
pathway  to  the  grave.  Rhyming  prose  was  used  in 
private  correspondence  by  all  persons  who  laid  claim 
to  good  breeding.  The  Hispano-Arab  histories  are 
filled  with  verses.  They  were  frequently  employed  to 
relieve  the  severity  of  scientific  works,  whose  authors 
were  equally  celebrated  as  philosophers  and  as  poets. 
Diplomatists  inserted  couplets  and  stanzas  of  more  or 


446  HlSTOBY  OF  THE 

less  merit  and  propriety  into  their  state  papers.  The 
passport  given  to  the  great  scholar  Ibn-Khaldun  by 
Mohammed  V.,  King  of  Granada,  was  written  in 
rhyme. 

In  the  classification  of  subjects,  amatory  poems,  as 
in  aU  countries  which  acknowledge  the  power  of  the 
lyric  muse,  claim  precedence.  It  is  obviously  unfair 
to  judge  Hispano-Arab  poetry  by  the  accepted  rules 
of  modem  criticism.  The  totally  different  conditions 
of  society,  the  education  of  an  audience  whose  ideas  of 
literary  excellence  and  correctness  of  expression  were 
strongly  at  variance  with  ours;  the  similes,  now  ob- 
scure, but  then  full  of  meaning  to  the  appreciative 
listener,  the  idioms  of  a  copious  and  extremely  com- 
plicated language  but  imperfectly  imderstood  by  the 
most  accomplished  scholars  of  our  day,  ignorance  of 
the  physical  environment  of  the  writer,  the  distance 
and  vicissitudes  of  nine  centuries,  all  contribute  to  ren- 
der the  formation  of  an  accurate  and  impartial  opinion 
on  the  merits  of  Arab  poetry  an  arduous,  indeed  an 
almost  hopeless,  task. 

The  exalted  position  occupied  by  women  under  the 
Arab  domination  in  Spain  gave  them  an  influence, 
and  invested  them  with  an  importance,  elsewhere  un- 
known in  the  Mohammedan  world.  This  peculiar 
social  condition  had  a  tendency  to  restrain  the  sensual 
instincts  of  the  bard,  not  yet  entirely  emancipated 
from  the  coarse  traditions  of  the  Desert,  while  at  the 
same  time  it  encouraged  the  cultivation  of  generous 
and  lofty  sentiments.  Admiration  for  the  qualities 
and  accomplishments  of  the  mind  gradually  sup- 
planted the  hyperbolical  praise  of  corporeal  perfec- 
tion, which  had  hitherto  predominated  in  the  composi- 
tions of  the  Arabian  poet.  The  verses  of  the  later  era 
of  the  khalif ate  allude  to  the  perfections  and  graces 
of  the  sex  in  terms  of  honor  and  veneration  worthy  of 
the  noblest  paladin  of  chivalry.    This  admiration  was 


MooBiSH  Empibe  IK  EUBOFE  447 

intensified  by  the  eminent  rank  attained  by  many 
women  in  the  literary  profession.  The  female  rela- 
tives of  khalifs  and  courtiers  vied  with  each  other  in 
the  patronage  and  cultivation  of  letters.  Ayesha,  the 
daughter  of  Prince  Ahmed,  excelled  in  rhyme  and 
oratory;  her  speeches  aroused  the  tumultuous  enthu- 
siasm of  the  grave  philosophers  of  Cordova;  her 
library  was  one  of  the  finest  and  most  complete  in  the 
kingdom.  Valada,  a  princess  of  the  Almohades, 
whose  personal  charms  were  not  inferior  to  her  talents, 
was  renowned  for  her  knowledge  of  poetry  and 
rhetoric;  her  conversation  was  remarkable  for  its 
depth  and  brilliancy;  and,  in  the  academical  contests 
of  the  capital  which  attracted  the  learned  and  the  elo- 
quent from  every  quarter  of  the  Peninsula,  she  never 
failed,  whether  in  prose  or  in  poetical  composition,  to 
distance  all  competitors.  Algasania  and  Safia,  both 
of  Seville,  were  also  distinguished  for  poetical  and 
oratorical  genius;  the  latter  was  unsurpassed  for  the 
beauty  and  perfection  of  her  calligraphy;  the  splendid 
illimiinations  of  her  manuscripts  were  the  despair  of 
the  most  accomplished  artists  of  the  age.  The  literary 
attainments  of  Miriam,  the  gifted  daughter  of  Al- 
Faisuli,  were  famous  throughout  the  Peninsula;  the 
caustic  wit  and  satire  of  her  epigrams  were  said  to 
have  been  imrivalled.  Unun-al-Saad  was  famous  for 
her  familiarity  with  Moslem  tradition.  Labana,  of 
Cordova,  was  thoroughly  versed  in  the  exact  sciences; 
her  talents  were  equal  to  the  solution  of  the  most  com- 
plex geometrical  and  algebraic  problems,  and  her  vast 
acquaintance  with  general  literature  obtained  for  her 
the  important  employment  of  private  secretary  to  the 
EJialif  Al-Hakem  II.  Inherited  genius  for  poetical 
composition,  joined  to  constant  familiarity  with  its 
exercise,  the  tendency  of  early  education,  the  influence 
of  intellectual  association  and  example,  the  exalted 
estimation  in  which  proficiency  in  it  was  held,  the  ex- 


448  HlSTOBY  07  THE 

traordinary  facility  afforded  by  the  Arabic  language 
for  the  formation  of  rhyme,  the  inherent  predilection 
of  the  Ajsiatic  for  the  employment  of  epigram,  hyper- 
bole, and  allegory,  called  into  existence  a  race  of 
juvenile  poets  whose  number  and  abilities  seem,  in  our 
practical  and  imimaginative  age,  absolutely  incredible. 
In  readiness  of  improvisation  and  quickness  of  repar- 
tee these  youthful  rhymers  displayed  talents  scarcely 
to  be  expected  of  the  most  precocious  intellect.  Some 
of  the  rhyming  couplets  composed  by  the  children  of 
Moorish  Spain  which  have  descended  to  us,  in  pro- 
priety of  expression  and  elevation  of  feeling,  in  apt- 
ness of  comparison  and  in  elegance  of  style,  are  not 
inferior  to  the  classic  productions  of  educated  ma- 
turity. 

Nor  was  the  taste  for  and  the  delight  in  the  arts 
of  extemporaneous  composition  confined  to  the  emi- 
nent and  the  learned ;  all  classes  practised  it,  and  it  was 
said  that  in  the  district  of  Silves  alone  there  was  hardly 
a  laborer  to  be  encountered  who  could  not  improvise 
creditable  verses  with  facility.  Volumes  devoted  to 
the  lives  and  productions  of  the  princely  and  noble 
poets  of  Andalusia  were  published;  the  palaces  of 
royalty  and  the  mansions  of  the  great  fairly  swarmed 
with  men  of  genius  and  poetasters,  greedy  of  wealth 
and  ambitious  of  renown.  The  ancient  and  venerated 
models  of  the  Desert  were  never  lost  sight  of  in  the 
productions  of  Moslem  Europe.  Their  striking  pecu- 
liarities, their  lofty  sentiments,  their  obscure  meta- 
phors, their  extravagant  panegyrics,  their  fantastic 
imagery,  were  regarded  as  merits  which,  while  they 
might  provoke,  would  ever  defy  imitation.  In  Anda- 
lusia, however,  the  enlarged  and  humanizing  ideas  of 
an  advanced  civilization,  the  steady  march  of  material 
and  intellectual  improvement,  familiarity  with  the 
literary  masterpieces  of  antiquity  and  intercourse  with 
foreign  nations,  modified  to  some  extent  the  character 


MooRiBK  Empibs  Df  EUBOFE  449 

of  the  subjects  treated  by  the  Moorish  poet,  although 
his  style  remained  the  same.  Similes  deduced  from 
the  nomadic  life  of  the  Bedouin — a  life  abandoned^ 
centuries  before,  for  the  monotonous  occupations  of 
trade  and  agriculture — still,  in  the  midst  of  conditions 
incompatible  with  the  existence  of  predatory  habits, 
and  side  by  side  with  the  tribal  hatred  whose  intensity 
never  diminished,  maintained  their  universal  ascend- 
ency. Adroitness  in  the  metrical  art;  the  gift  of 
combining  the  infinite  resources  of  the  Arabic  idiom 
in  complicated  phrases  and  rhymes  whidi  nothing  but 
the  enthusiasm  and  penetration  of  the  illuminated 
could  understand  and  unravel;  the  introduction  of 
mysterious  aUegories,  remote  and  obscure  analogies, 
bold  and  striking  antitheses, — ^these  were  the  artificial 
excellences  of  Hispano-Arab  poetry.  The  perfect 
comprehension  of  its  productions  implies  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  language  practically  unattainable  by  a 
foreigner.  The  original  form  of  Semitic  poetry, 
whether  Hebrew  or  Arabic,  was  improvisatorial;  it 
was  inspired  by  passing  events;  it  was  gay  or  plain- 
tive, didactic  or  satirical,  but  never  solemn  and 
grandly  impressive,  like  the  sublime  flights  of  the  Gre- 
cian muse.  The  Arab  poet  was  deficient  in  the  dra- 
matic faculty.  His  versatility,  elsewhere  remarkable, 
was  unequal  to  the  composition  of  an  epic.  His 
ignorance  was  so  profound  that  he  could  not  even 
give  a  correct  definition  of  tragedy  or  comedy.  To 
the  greatest  sdiolars  of  Mohammedan  Spain,  men  who 
knew  Aristotle  by  heart,  and  who  were  capable  of  the 
instant  solution  of  the  most  difficult  equations  of 
Conon  and  Euclid,  the  works  of  Sophocles,  ^sdiy- 
lus,  and  Euripides  were  unknown.  The  mental  con- 
stitution of  the  Arab  was  thus  not  adapted  to  the  crea- 
tion of  plays,  a  form  of  literature  also  discouraged  by 
his  traditions;  while  his  prejudices  forbade  the  study 
of  the  classic  models  which  his  religion  stigmatised  aa 

Vol.  IIL- 


450  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

idolatrous  and  indecent.  Poetical  narration  was  not 
unfamiliar  to  him,  but  a  lengthy  historic  or  allegorical 
composition,  either  in  blank  verse  or  rhyme,  which 
required  sustained  and  protracted  action,  was  both 
repugnant  to  his  taste  and  beyond  his  powers. 

While  love-ditties  were  the  favorite  productions  of 
the  Hispano-Arab,  the  martial  lyrics  of  battle  and 
triumph,  sonnets  depicting  the  pleasures  of  wine  with 
more  than  Roman  freedom,  and  the  mourf ul  elegies 
suggested  by  the  events  of  a  decadent  empire,  claimed 
a  large  proportion  of  the  efforts  of  his  poetic  genius. 
Among  the  myriad  poets  whose  compositions  have 
adorned  the  Moorish  domination  in  Spain,  it  is  difficult 
to  attempt  to  distinguish  a  few  of  superior  merit;  yet 
the  following  may  be  designated  as  masters  in  that  art 
whose  possession  was  a  passport  alike  to  political  emi- 
nence and  popular  veneration.  Ibn-Hasn,  Ibn-Zeidun, 
of  Cordova,  Abbas-Ibn-Ahnaf ,  were  noted  for  the 
sweetness  and  beauty  of  their  amorous  songs ;  the  mar- 
tial airs  of  Ibn-Chaf  adscha,  of  Valencia,  chanted  by 
the  Moslems  in  the  front  of  battle,  assisted  in  turning 
the  tide  of  many  a  doubtful  day;  the  bacchanalian 
verses  of  Ibn-Said,  of  Seville,  were  the  delight  of  the 
corrupt  and  voluptuous  Andalusian  capital,  and  were 
even  sung  by  the  children  in  the  streets;  the  keen 
satires  of  Ibn-Ammar  of  Silves — ^the  unhappy  memo- 
ries of  whose  early  life,  passed  in  mendicity,  tinctured 
his  writings  with  bitterness  even  when  raised  by  his 
talents  to  the  highest  posts  in  the  kingdom — spared 
neither  prince  nor  courtier  in  their  indiscriminate  and 
playful  wit;  Abul-Beka,  of  Ronda,  Ibn-al-Lebbum, 
of  Murviedro,  and  Ibn-al-Khatib,  of  Granada,  de- 
scribed, in  language  of  inexpressible  beauty  and 
pathos,  the  national  calamities  inflicted  by  Christian 
supremacy, — ^the  dissolution  of  empire,  the  desecra- 
tion of  the  sanctuary,  the  dismemberment  of  families, 
the  exile  of  the  vanquishied,  the  horrors  of  servitude. 


Mcx>Bi8H  Empibe  in  Eubofe  451 

The  ordinary  lyrics  of  the  Spanish  Moslems  were 
technically  known  as  the  Kasida  and  the  Ghazal,  and, 
in  the  composition  of  both,  only  the  alternate  verses 
were  in  rhyme.  The  sonnets  of  Petrarch  are  modelled 
after  this  peculiar  method  of  versification,  or  rather 
after  its  imitations  prevalent  among  the  vagrant  poets 
of  Southern  Europe.  It  was  principally  through  the 
example  afforded  by  the  Moorish  kingdom  of  Sicily 
that  an  intellectual  impulse  was  imparted  to  the  f  oimd- 
ers  of  Italian  mediseval  literature.  The  Mohamme- 
dan princes  who  governed  that  fertile  island  were 
generous  and  enthusiastic  patrons  of  letters.  The 
Normans,  whose  enlightened  spirit  preserved  with 
little  modification  the  laws  and  customs  of  a  civiliza- 
tion whose  benefits  were  so  apparent,  encouraged  Mdth 
especial  favor  the  labors  of  ihe  Arab  muse.  The  com- 
positions of  the  Sicilian  poets  embodied  principles  and 
were  governed  by  canons  identical  with  those  in  vogue 
beyond  the  Pyrenees.  In  a  land  aboimding  in  classic 
associations,  the  scene  of  military  and  maritime  events 
upon  whose  issue  had  depended  the  destiny  of  em- 
pires; whose  striking  natural  features  had  given  rise 
to  the  most  charming  fictions  that  adorn  the  produc- 
tions of  antiquity,  and  where  the  architectural  monu- 
ments of  Grecian  elegance  and  grandeur  recalled  the 
magnificence  of  former  ages;  the  Arab,  enveloped  in 
the  exclusiveness  of  his  own  personality,  fettered  by 
the  influence  of  inherited  tradition,  never  departed 
from  the  beaten  track  of  his  ancestors.  Physical  en- 
vironment, unusually  so  potent  in  the  formation  of 
taste  and  the  modification  of  national  impulse  and 
individual  characteristics,  produced  no  visible  effect 
upon  the  mental  constitution  of  the  Moorish  poet. 
Everything  else — physiological  peculiarities,  the  gen- 
eral tendency  of  thought,  the  nature  of  the  objects 
of  intellectual  inquiry,  opinions  of  the  benefits  to  be 
obtained  from  the  prosecution  of  scientific  pursuits. 


4fiS  HiaroKT  of  thb 

tiie  occupations  of  daUy  life — underwent  radical 
changes,  but  the  methods  of  the  poet  remained  to 
the  last  invariable.  The  persistence  of  this  spirit 
of  immobility  is  further  demonstrated  by  the  popu- 
lar ballads  of  the  conquerors  to  whom  the  Moslems 
bequeathed  it.  The  strikmg  resemblance  of  the  songs 
of  the  troubadours  to  those  of  the  Arabs  indicate 
plainly  the  source  whence  the  former  derived  their  in- 
spiration. Other  circumstances,  based  upon  national 
customs,  go  far  towards  confirming  this  opinicm. 
The  Mohammedan  Peninsula  abounded  with  itinera 
ant  rhymers  and  sonneteers.  They  travelled  from 
mansion  to  mansion,  everywhere  welcomed  with  joy 
and  hospitality.  They  attended  the  person  of  the 
prince.  They  formed  an  indispensable  part  of  the 
retinue  of  every  great  household.  Their  poems  were 
ordinarily  improvisations,  evoked  by  the  occurrences 
of  the  moment  or  the  suggestions  of  the  locality. 
Their  compensation  was  gratuitous,  entirely  depend- 
ent upon  the  caprice  of  the  patron  or  the  generosity 
of  the  auditory.  The  privileged  character  of  their 
profession  enabled  them  to  use  a  boldness  of  speech 
and  a  freedom  of  criticism  which  an  ordinary  person* 
age  would  not  have  dared  to  exercise.  In  their  train 
often  followed  the  story-teUer,  the  prototype  of  the 
jongleur,  whose  lineal  descendant  may  still  be  seen 
amusing  with  his  coarse  buffoonery  the  idle  crowds  of 
Tangier  and  Cairo. 

The  graceful  courtesy  and  deference  to  the  sex, 
which  were  the  indispensable  attributes  of  every  gal- 
lant cavalier,  in  short,  the  very  genius  of  chivalry, 
originated  among  the  Spanish  Mohammedans.  The 
women  of  Christian  Europe— except  in  countries  in- 
fluenced by  Moslem  culture — from  the  tenth  to  Ihe 
fifteenth  century  received  no  such  social  consideration 
and  enjoyed  no  such  educational  advantages  as  did 
their  infidel  sisters  of  the  Peninsula.     In  Southern 


Moorish  Empiss  in  Eubofe  4St 

France  and  Italy  a  tolerant  spirit^  fostered  by  a  light 
and  pleasing  literature,  had  invested  woman  with  an 
eminent,  indeed  with  a  despotic,  authority.  Elsewhere 
it  was  far  different.  Condemned  to  unspeakable  hard* 
ships;  degraded  by  brutal  associations;  if  of  high 
rank,  the  mere  plaything  of  a  tyrannical  master;  if 
bom  in  an  inferior  position,  classed  with  beasts  of 
burden;  in  every  situation  of  life  kept  in  ignorance; 
subject  to  insult,  to  oppression,  to  all  the  sufferings  in-* 
ddent  to  a  condition  of  humiliating  dependence  little 
removed  from  servitude,  such  was  the  lot  of  woman 
in  orthodox  Christendom.  This  state  of  moral  and 
physical  degradation  long  prevailed,  save  where  inti- 
mate contact  with  Arab  civilization  produced  a  sub* 
stantial  and  permanent  improvement  of  social  and 
intellectual  conditions.  The  most  important  factor  of 
this  metamorphosis  was  the  poetry  of  which  the 
troubadour  was  the  exponent.  This  erratic  calling 
drew  its  members  from  every  rank  of  society:  it  in- 
cluded sovereigns,  princesses,  nobles,  peasants,  beg- 
gars. As  the  rhyming  instinct  is  not  innate  and  almost 
universal  in  Europe  as  in  Asia,  the  often  unlettered 
troubadour  was  more  highly  considered  in  Languedoc 
and  Calabria  than  was  the  wandering  poet  among  the 
hypercritical  literary  dilettanti  of  Seville  and  Gran- 
ada. 

In  addition  to  the  presumption  afforded  by  the  re- 
semblance of  subject,  style,  and  metre,  the  fact  that 
only  cotmtries  contiguous  to,  or  directly  influenced  by, 
Moorish  civilization  during  the  Middle  Ages  devd- 
oped  a  taste  for  poetry  similar  to  that  of  the  Arabs, 
furnishes  strong  corroborative  evidence  that  the  gai 
science  J  as  the  art  of  improvising  verses  was  called,  was 
of  Arabic  derivation.  The  natural  haunt  of  the  trou- 
badour was  the  romantic,  semi-tropical  region  washed 
by  the  waves  of  the  northwestern  Mediterranean.  The 
genius  of  his  poetry — ardent»  extravagant,  votuptoofos 


454  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

—had  nothing  in  common  with  the  cold  and  slu^^gfid 
spirit  of  the  North.  France  and  Italy  were  the  only 
European  comitries  whose  boimdaries  coincided  with 
those  of  the  Moslems.  In  both  the  revival  of  learning, 
after  centuries  of  darkness,  first  arose.  France  was 
the  abode  of  the  Huguenot  and  the  Camisard;  the 
birthplace  of  Henry  IV.  and  Coligny ;  the  seat  of  the 
Great  Schism  which  rent  the  Church  in  twain;  the 
vantage-ground  of  the  philosophers  who  precipitated 
the  frightful  struggle  for  civil  and  religious  freedom 
in  the  eighteenth  century.  Italy  was  the  land  of 
Galileo,  of  Bruno,  of  Savonarola,  of  the  Medici;  the 
home  of  the  Florentine  academicians,  whose  labors  and 
experiments  eflFected  so  much  for  the  advancement 
of  science;  the  scene  of  the  most  extensive  reaction 
against  mediaeval  ignorance, — ^a  movement  inaugu- 
rated in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Rome,  and 
in  defiance  of  the  vehement  protest  of  the  Papal  See. 
The  greatest  names  in  Italian  literature  insensibly 
acknowledged  their  obligations  to  Arabic  poetry,  by 
adopting  the  style  and  rhythm  of  its  European  imita- 
tors, the  troubadours.  The  peerless  Dante  himself  did 
not  disdain  to  follow  and  to  advocate  the  observance  of 
its  rules.  The  Canzoni  of  Petrarch  present  innumer- 
able points  of  resemblance  to  the  productions  of  Mos- 
lem Sicily.  Ariosto  is  greatly  indebted  to  Elmacin. 
In  the  melodious  and  charming  songs  of  Lorenzo,  the 
same  sources  of  inspiration  are  discernible,  and  the 
same  rhyme  is  used.  In  England,  the  Canterbiuy 
Tales  of  Chaucer  bear  an  immistakable  relation  in 
form  and  metre  to  the  mediaeval  compositions  of 
Southern  France.  Nor  was  this  powerful  and  all-per- 
vading influence  confined  to  poetry.  The  tales  of 
Boccaccio  have  an  Oriental  cast.  The  very  manner  of 
their  recital  recalls  the  customs  of  the  Desert.  They  are 
reminiscences  of  the  popular  calling  of  the  Provencal 
jongleur  and  the  Arabic  story-teller.    In  the  license 


MooBiSH  Empibe  IK  EUBOFE  455' 

of  their  expressions,  in  the  wit  of  their  repartee,  in  the 
amusing  character  of  the  events  which  they  describe, 
they  may  be  classed  as  realistic  adaptations  of  the 
Thousand  and  One  Nights.  The  patronage  and  ex- 
ample of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.  carried  beyond 
the  Alps  the  cultivation  of  letters,  and  with  it  the 
traditions  of  Sicilian  civilization.  From  this  literary 
transmigration  originated  the  Minnesingers,  German 
counterparts  of  the  troubadoiu^,  whose  elegant  verses 
sensibly  modified  the  innate  coarseness  of  the  Teu- 
tonic character,  and  introduced  a  spirit  of  refinement, 
in  pleasing  contrast  with  the  drunken  orgies  of  the 
banquet  and  the  festival.  Their  two  principal  pro- 
ductions, the  Minnesong  and  the  Minnelay,  were 
models  of  elegance  of  diction,  beauty  of  sentiment, 
and  perfection  of  rhyme.  For  more  than  a  centtoy 
they  were  the  delight  of  all  classes  of  German  society, 
nor  did  any  compositions  of  equal  merit  succeed  them 
until  the  age  of  Goethe  and  Schiller.  Into  Germany 
were  also  introduced,  by  the  influence  of  the  Emperor, 
a  spirit  of  inquiry,  the  foundation  of  all  true  knowl- 
edge, and  the  philosophical  and  heterodox  ideas  en- 
tertained by  the  educated  Moslems  of  his  Sicilian 
dominions.  The  ultimate  ejffect  of  this  enlightened 
policy  upon  the  national  mind,  imperceptible  at  the 
time,  but  increasing  in  intensity  with  the  lapse  of  cen- 
turies, was  the  defiant  course  of  Luther,  which  estab- 
lished the  right  of  private  interpretation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures and  shook  the  foundations  of  the  papal  throne. 
The  fact  that  these  three  countries,  which  alone  were 
directly  acted  upon  by  the  spirit  of  Arabic  learning 
arid  the  example  of  Moorish  civilization,  were  the  scene 
of  the  revival  of  letters,  when  the  rest  of  Christen- 
dom was  plunged  in  the  most  abject  ignorance,  is  of 
profound  significance  in  ascertaining  the  causes  that, 
promoting  the  intellectual  advancement  of  Europe, 


4M  HmoET  or  tHS 

ba^e  Culminated  ia  fh«  great  scientific  aduevemenis 
of  tnodem  times. 

In  Moorish  Spain  grtat  attention  was  paid  to  the 
study  of  the  kindred  subjects  of  theology  and  law. 
The  commentaries  on  the  rites  of  the  various  sects 
into  whidi  Islam  is  divided;  the  arrangement  and 
review  of  the  enormous  mass  of  tradition  which  tends 
to  eluddate  or  to  confirm  the  ambiguous  texts  of  the 
Koran;  the  digests  of  the  decisions  whose  authority 
is  considered  unimpeachable,  form  a  stupendous  body 
of  literature  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  patience,  the 
learning,  and  the  labor  necessarily  employed  in  its 
compilation.  The  muftis  and  the  faquis  were  the 
authorities  whose  ofiSce  it  was  to  explain  perplexing 
questions  of  Mohammedan  jurisprudence.  In  the 
system  of  tiie  latter,  a  system  generally  remarkable 
for  its  simplicity  and  efficiency,  the  Koran  was  the 
guide  of  ev^y  magistrate.  The  rules  were  supple- 
mented by  the  precepts  and  suggestions  of  the  Sun- 
nah,  a  collecticm  of  traditions  derived  from  sources 
more  or  less  authoritative,  and  transmitted  through 
many  generations.  The  conflicting  interpretation 
placed  upon  ancient  customs  sanctified  by  prescrip- 
tion, and  the  disputed  authenticity  of  many  of  them, 
gave  rise  to  a  swarm  of  se6ts  whose  rancorous  dis- 
putes were  often  terminated  by  bloodshed.  In  tiie 
Moslem  judicature,  the  sovereign  Was  the  sole  foun- 
tain of  justice.  Heir  to  the  patriarchal  customs  of 
the  East,  he  often  sat  in  judgment  at  the  gate  of  his 
palace,  heard  the  complaints  of  his  subjects,  composed 
their  quarrels,  reproved  their  faults,  condemned  their 
animosity,  and  decided  upon  their  merits  all  con^* 
troveraes  between  worthy  litigants.  Under  him  was 
the  kadi,  in  whom  was  vested  civil  and  criminal  jurist- 
diction,  whose  judgm^its  were  rendered  and  whose 
scntences-^f  rom  the  scourging  and  the  cruel  mutila* 
tions  enjoined  by  the  law  to  the  supreme  penalty  of 


MooBiSH  Ekphx  nr  Eubofe  457 

decapitaticm-^were  executed  with  a  relentless  promp 
titude  little  in  accordance  with  modem  ideas  of  crimi<^ 
nal  procedure.  In  these  courts  there  were  no  opportu* 
nities  for  oratorical  display;  custom  discouraged  sudi 
.exhibitions;  and  Arab  eloquence,  unlike  that  of  other 
nations,  was  most  concise  and  laconic.  The  doctors 
of  the  law  and  the  commentators  on  the  Koran  re* 
ceived  greater  homage  than  any  other  class  of  Moslem 
men  of  letters.  Their  occupation  invested  them  with 
a  measure  of  the  reverence  enjoyed  by  the  works  to 
which  their  labors  were  consecrated;  it  implied  the 
possession  of  superior  knowledge,  perhaps  of  inspira^ 
timi;  they  were  ordinarily  personages  of  venerable 
appearance  and  irreproachable  diaracter;  and  upon 
their  opinions,  promulgated  veith  all  the  authority  of 
age,  wisdom,  and  experience,  depended  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  and  the  preservation  of  order 
throughout  the  vast  extent  of  the  empire. 

The  extensive  and  diversified  character  of  the  works 
of  the  Arabs  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  literature.  This 
extra(»*dinary  fertility  attained  a  greater  develop- 
ment in  Spain  than  in  any  other  portion  of  the  Mus- 
sulman empire.  Al-Modhaffer,  King  of  Badajoz, 
wrote  fifty  volumes;  Ibn-Hayyan,  sixty;  Honein, 
a  hundred;  Abdallatif  and  Ahmed-Ibn-Iban,  the 
same;  Ibn^-al-Heitsam,  two  hundred;  Abu-Moham- 
med-Ibn-Han,  four  hundred;  Ibn-Habib-al-Solami 
and  Abu-Merwan-Abd-al-Melik,  each  a  thousand. 

In  the  realm  of  history  and  biography  the  genius 
of  the  Hispano-Arab  was  most  prolific  The  sub- 
jects treated  are  of  great  variety,  and  are  usually  ejt- 
panded  into  a  prodigious  number  of  books.  Tedi- 
ous and  obscure  as  is  mudi  of  their  narrative,  its 
minuteness  of  detail  and  extraordinary  fidelity  to 
truth  render  the  surviving  collecticms — ^which,  exten- 
sive as  Ihey  are,  compose  but  a  fragment  of  Ihe  his^ 
toridd  literatuns  that  once  existed^-^invalumfole  to  tiie 


45&  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

student.  The  biographical  dictionary  of  Hadji 
Khalf  a  contains  notices  of  twenty  thousand  works,  of 
which  twelve  hundred  are  historical.  The  Arabic  criti- 
cal, theological,  and  geographical  cyclopaedias  were 
scarcely  less  voluminous. 

The  plan  of  this  work  does  not  contemplate  more 
than  a  passing  allusion  to  the  principal  historical 
writers  whose  learning  and  talents  were  conspicuous 
during  the  Moorish  domination  in  Spain.  Among 
them  may  be  mentioned  Ibn-al-Afttas,  Prince  of 
Badajoz,  who  composed  a  valuable  treatise  on  the 
political  and  literary  events  of  the  Peninsula;  Ibn- 
Ahmed-al-Tolejrtoli,  of  Toledo,  who  wrote  a  General 
History  of  Nations;  Al-Khazraji,  of  Cordova,  to 
whom  is  attributed  a  History  of  the  Khalifs;  Al- 
Ghazzal  and  Al-Hijari,  who  published,  the  one  a 
rhyming  history,  the  other  a  topographical  descrip- 
tion of  Andalusia;  Ibn-Bashkuwal,  of  Cordova,  and 
Mohammed  Al-Zuluyide,  famous  for  their  biographi- 
cal dictionaries;  Ibn-al-Ehatib,  of  Granada,  whose 
marvellous  erudition  was  displayed  in  the  greatest  of 
his  works,  The  Universal  Library,  an  immense  epitome 
of  the  literary  and  historical  facts  obtainable  in  his 
time.  Disquisitions  on  general  topics  were  not,  how- 
ever, the  favorite  employment  of  Moorish  authors; 
their  subtle  minds  preferred  the  narration  of  impor- 
tant events,  the  tracing  of  remote  causes,  the  solution 
of  obscure  historical  problems.  In  the  treatment  of 
special  subjects  they  displayed  a  wonderful,  often  a 
tedious,  prolixity.  Each  khalif  and  prince  entertained 
at  his  court  an  historian  charged  with  the  description 
of  the  principal  occurrences  of  his  reign.  Every  town 
had  its  annaUst,  every  province  its  chronicler.  There 
was  not  an  art  or  a  science,  not  a  profession  or  a  call- 
ing, whose  origin  and  influence  had  not  been  described, 
and  its  distinguished  teachers  enumerated,  by  some 
eminent  writer.  Mohammed  Abu-Abdallah,  of  Gran- 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eusofe  450 

ada,  compiled  an  historical  dictionary  of  the  sciences; 
Al-Assaker  is  credited  with  a  curious  and  instructive 
history  of  inventors.  Even  animals  famous  for  their 
superior  qualities  were  assigned  an  honorable  place 
in  the  biographical  productions  of  the  Spanish  Mo- 
hammedans. Abu-al-Monder,  of  Valencia,  and  Ibn- 
Zaid-al-Arabi,  of  Cordova,  composed  memoirs  re- 
counting the  genealogy,  the  endurance,  the  speed,  and 
the  beauty  of  certain  horses  conspicuous  in  a  race 
proverbial  for  its  excellence.  Abd-al-Malik  wrote  an 
account  of  celebrated  camels.  The  names  given  to 
books,  even  by  the  grave  and  pious,  partake  of  the 
fanciful  and  figurative  imagery  of  the  Orient,  and 
were  suggestive  of  the  most  precious  objects  admired 
and  coveted  by  man,  such  as  "The  Silken  Vest," 
"  Strings  of  Pearls,"  "  Links  of  Gems,"  "  Prairies  of 
Grold."  From  a  remote  antiquity  similar  titles  had 
been  adopted,  for,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  the 
earliest  of  Arabic  poems,  the  Moallakat,  derive  their 
collective  appellation,  not  from  having  been  suspended 
in  the  Kaaba  of  Mecca,  but  on  account  of  their 
figurative  resemblance  to  the  pendants  of  a  necklace. 

The  Arabic  language,  regarded  by  Moslems  as  the 
most  perfect  of  all  idioms,  received  great  attention 
from  grammarians.  Their  works  upon  this  subject 
are  infinite,  exhaustive,  perplexing.  One  treatise,  in 
a  hundred  parts,  treats  solely  of  genders.  Knowl- 
edge of  this  character  was  held  in  the  highest  estima- 
tion. Abu-6halib,  of  Murcia,  refused  a  thousand 
dinars  of  gold  from  the  sultan  of  that  kingdom,  who 
had  solicited,  as  an  honor,  the  dedication  of  a  work 
upon  grammar  composed  by  that  celebrated  scholar, 
whose  labors  were  devoted  to  the  instruction  of  the 
people,  and  not  to  the  flattery  of  power.  Natural  his- 
tory, chronology,  numismatics,  were  treated  at  great 
length  by  the  European  Moslems.  The  menageries 
aiid  aviaries  maintained  in  the  principal  cities  af- 


MO  HmoKT  or  tbs 

forded  unusual  adrantftges  to  the  student  of  zoology;. 
Chitmological  computations  were  baaed  upon  the  de^ 
ductions  of  the  Alexandrian  Museum*  The  Moorish 
sdiolars  of  Spain  and  Sicily  made  invaluable  contribu- 
tions to  the  general  stock  of  geographical  knowledge. 
The  measurement  of  a  degree  which  they  effected 
approximates  very  nearly  to  the  one  accepted  by 
modem  science.  Abulf  eda  enumerates  sixty  Arab^ 
geographers  who  lived  before  the  thirteenth  century. 
Many  of  their  maps  were  veritable  works  of  art,  in 
which,  upon  a  ground  of  silk,  continents,  mountains^ 
lakes,  and  streams,  represented  in  relief,  were  em<^ 
broidered  in  gold  and  silver.  Their  researches  were 
aided  by  the  historical  remains  of  antiquity,  by  the 
accounts  of  merchants  and  mariners,  and  by  the  re-* 
ports  of  travellers  despatched  by  their  sovereigns  to 
collect  information  in  the  remotest  comers  of  tbe 
earth.  Ibn-Hamid  penetrated  to  the  most  inaccessible 
regions  of  Central  Asia.  Ibn-Djobair  visited  and  de- 
scribed Sicily  and  the  countries  of  the  Orient.  The 
travels  of  IlNti*Batutah  were  prolonged  through 
twenty-four  years.  Obeyd-al-Bekri,  of  Onoba,  was 
the  author  of  a  geographical  dictionary,  in  which  were 
described  an  immense  number  of  cities,  principalities, 
and  kingdoms.  The  reputation  of  all  mediaeval  geog«- 
raphers,  however  distinguiidied,  was  obscured  by  the 
fame  of  the  great  Edrisi.  A  native  of  Malaga,  of 
royal  blood,  and  a  lineal  descendant  of  Mohammed,  he 
united  to  pride  of  birth  and  the  advantages  of  fortune 
all  the  learning  and  all  the  accomplishments  to  be 
acquired  in  an  enlightened  age.  His  relationship  to 
the  Prophet  invested  him  with  a  dignity  and  an  im- 
portance second  to  none,  in  the  sight  of  every  devout 
Mussulman.  His  education  at  Cordova  was  the  best 
that  the  ancient  capital  of  the  khalifs,  still  the  intel- 
lectual c^itre  of  the  world,  could  afford.  His  mind, 
improved  by  travel,  waa  familiar  with  many  eoontriei 


MoosuH  EicpiBS  m  Eubofe  461 

whose  physical  features  he  afterwards  depicted  with 
such  ability.  Invited  to  Palermo  by  Roger,  King 
of  Sicily,  he  speedily  attained  a  high  rank  among  the 
sdiolars  of  that  brilliant  court.  The  geography  he 
composed,  partly  from  his  own  information,  partly 
from  data  furnished  by  the  King,  who  had  long  made 
a  study  of  that  science,  represented  the  labor  of  fifteen 
years.  In  vividness  of  description,  in  accuracy  of 
detail,  in  correct  estimation  of  distances,  it  is  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  literary  productions  of  mediaeval 
times.  The  incomplete  work  of  Ptolemy  had  for 
centuries  been  the  recognized,  indeed  the  only,  au* 
thority.  The  configuration  of  the  earth's  surface,  its 
climates,  the  locations  of  continents  and  seas,  of  cities 
and  empires,  were  facts  little  known,  even  to  persons 
of  the  best  education.  In  Christian  lands  the  Chiu*ch 
sedulously  discouraged  all  such  studies  as  inimical 
to  Scriptural  revelation.  Geographical  works  had 
already  appeared  in  Arabic,  but  tiiey  were  grossly 
inaccurate,  and  largely  based  on  fable,  romance,  and 
tradition.  The  compilation  of  Edrisi  marks  an  era 
in  the  history  of  science.  Not  only  is  its  historical 
information  most  interesting  and  valuable,  but  its 
descriptions  of  many  parts  of  the  earth  are  still 
authoritative.  For  three  centuries  geographers  copied 
his  maps  without  alteration.  The  relative  positicm  of 
the  lakes  which  form  the  Nile,  as  delineated  in  his 
work,  does  not  differ  greatly  from  that  established 
by  Baker  and  Stanley  more  than  seven  hundred  years 
afterwards,  and  their  number  is  the  same.  The  me* 
ehanical  genius  of  the  author  was  not  inferior  to  his 
erudition.  The  celestial  and  terrestrial  planisphere  of 
silver  which  he  constructed  for  his  royal  patron  was 
nearly  six  feet  in  diameter,  and  weighed  four  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds;  upon  the  one  side  the  zodiac  and 
the  constellations,  upon  the  other — divided  for  con- 
venience  into  s^^ents — ^the  bodies  of  land  and  water, 


462  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

with  the  respective  situations  of  the  various  countries, 
were  engraved.  As  a  recompense  for  his  skill,  Edrisi 
received  from  King  Roger  the  remainder  of  the 
precious  material,  amounting  to  two-thirds,  a  hun- 
dred thousand  pieces  of  silver,  and  a  ship  laden  witli 
valuable  merchandise.  Such  was  the  munificence  with 
which  the  son  of  a  Norman  freebooter,  bred  to  arms 
and  rapine  and  ignorant  of  letters,  rewarded  the 
genius  of  a  scholar  whose  race  was  stigmatized  by 
every  Christian  power  in  Europe  as  barbarian  and 
infidel. 

•  In  philosophical  studies,  the  European  Arab 
evinced  the  same  curious  and  inquiring  spirit  whidi 
characterized  his  investigations  of  natural  phenomena. 
The  multiplicity  of  sects  into  whidi  the  religion  of 
Mohammed  was  divided,  and  the  incessant  religious 
controversies  which  the  disputed  texts  of  the  Koran 
and  the  conflicting  interpretations  of  doubtful  tradi- 
tions evolved,  were  not  favorable  either  to  proselytism 
or  to  the  maintenance  of  orthodoxy.  The  Moslems 
had  their  Nominalists  and  their  Realists,  their  Mys- 
tics and  their  Epicureans.  They  imderstood  the 
esoteric  doctrines  of  the  most  renowned  schools  of 
antiquity.  They  had  read  and  commented  upon 
Pythagoras,  Heraclitus,  Socrates,  Empedodes,  Plato. 
They  were  familiar  with  the  atomic  theory  of  Democ- 
ritus.  They  recognized  the  argumentative  ability  of 
the  Stoics.  With  the  productions  of  the  Alexandrian 
School — ^through  whose  medium  was  derived  their 
knowledge  of  the  dogmas  of  the  Portico  and  the 
Academy — ^they  were  thoroughly  conversant.  The 
prolonged  and  attentive  consideration  of  these  vain 
and  unprofitable  opinions  did  not,  however,  commend 
itself  to  the  ingenious  and  practical  mind  of  the  Arab. 
He  indulged  in  no  abstract  speculations  concerning 
the  origin,  nature,  and  destiny  of  man.  He  wasted  no 
time  in  attempts  to  decide  the  vexed  and  frivolous 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eusofe  468 

question  of  the  supreme  good.  He  regarded  with 
Iboundless  favor  the  works  of  Aristotle,  a  predilection 
destined  with  years  to  develop  into  an  tmdisceming 
admiration  akin  to  idolatry.  To  the  influence  of  this 
sage  of  the  ancients,  the  educated  Moorish  population 
of  Spain  was  peculiarly  susceptible.  The  doctrines 
of  Al-6hazzali,  of  Bagdad,  who  lived  in  the  eleventh 
century,  had  also  obtained  general  acceptance.  His 
teachings  involved  the  absolute  separation  of  philos- 
ophy from  superstition.  He  believed  in  a  higher 
sphere  than  that  of  hiunan  reason,  where  was  exhibited 
the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  Essence  pervading  all 
space,  all  matter,  a  form  of  the  Pantheism  of  India. 

The  Peninsula  had  for  centuries  experienced  the 
ascendency  of  different  races  of  men,  the  successive 
predominance  and  decay  of  many  forms  of  religious 
belief.  The  transmission  of  national  peculiarities ;  the 
survival  of  various,  often  hostile,  political  and  social 
opinions;  the  comparison  of  a  series  of  creeds,  each 
claiming  divine  origin  and  inspiration,  yet  each,  in  its 
turn,  supplanted  by  a  more  powerful  adversary,  had 
disposed  the  minds  of  men  to  investigation  and  reason. 
It  was  only  among  the  intellectual,  however,  that  such 
a  disposition  prevailed.  With  no  class  of  fanatics  did 
intolerance  exist  in  greater  intensity  than  among  the 
orthodox  masses  of  Mohammedan  Spain.  Their  an- 
tipathy to  all  who  questioned  the  revelation  of  the 
Koran  or  the  authenticity  of  accepted  tradition  was 
irreconcilable.  In  the  unreasoning  f luy  engendered 
by  prejudice,  they  forgot  the  marvels  of  the  civiliza- 
tion that  surrounded  them;  the  encouragement  that 
their  greatest  princes  had  extended  to  learning;  the 
statement  of  the  Prophet  that  the  first  thing  created 
by  God  was  Intelligence.  While  they  loved  the  ma- 
terial pomp  which  thinly  disguised  the  forms  of  des- 
potism, while  they  cringed  before  the  pride  of  rank 
Knd  opulence,  they  found  the  quiet  and  imassuming 


4M  History  of  tbx 

pre*eminenee  derived  from  superior  wiadom  and  a  pnh 
found  aequaintance  with  letters  intokrable.  These 
narrow  ideas,  so  prejudicial  to  mental  developmoit, 
were  diligently  fostered  by  the  doctors  of  the  law,  who 
discerned,  in  the  general  diffusion  of  philosophical 
opinions,  a  serious  menace  to  their  importance  and 
dignity.  Natural  philosophy  was  the  object  of  fheir 
especial  abhorrence.  A  system  which  professed  to 
account  for  the  familiar  phenomena  daily  manifested 
on  the  earth  and  in  the  heavens  by  the  operation  of 
natural  causes  and  inexorable  necessity,  and  which 
absolutely  dispensed  with  divine  revelation,  might  well 
awaken  the  suspicion  and  alarm  of  a  class  whose 
worldly  interests  absolutely  depended  upon  the  sup- 
pression of  knowledge  and  the  maintenance  of  ortho- 
doxy. The  populace,  as  usual,  sided  with  their 
teachers.  As  a  result  the  philosopher  was  an  object  of 
aversion,  often  of  horror,  to  the  conscientious  Moham- 
medan. In  the  eyes  of  the  irrational  zealot  the  pursuit 
of  science  was  a  certain  indication  of  a  bargain  with 
the  devil.  No  rank,  however  exalted,  was  imx>f 
against  this  odious  imputation.  The  greatest  of  the 
Ommeyade  and  Abbaside  khalif s,  whose  highest  title 
to  fame  was  the  encouragement  of  letters,  were  stig- 
matized as  wizards  and  magicians.  The  unicm  of  the 
powers  of  Church  and  State  in  a  single  individual,  and 
the  number  and  importance  of  the  institutions  for  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  alone  prevented  the  extinc- 
tion of  learning  by  popular  violence.  The  majority 
of  the  Hispano-Arab  princes  were  men  of  unusuid 
intellectual  attainments, — ^historians,  poets,  chemists, 
philosophers.  The  patronage  they  afforded  to  science 
had  a  deterrent  effect  on  those  who  longed  for  the 
restoration  of  purity  of  doctrine,  which  had  disap- 
peared, as  it  invariably  does,  before  the  progressive 
march  of  civilization.  Emulating  the  examples  of  the 
khalif  s,  the  governors  of  provinces  vied  with  their 


Moosisn  EMPntz  w  Eubofs  465 

loyal  masters  in  the  propagation  of  knowledge.  They 
founded  schools  and  academies.  They  offered  prizes 
for  new  and  useful  discoyeries.  At  their  invitation, 
the  greatest  scholars  in  their  jurisdiction  assembled 
once  a  year  at  the  seat  of  government,  for  public 
discussion  of  subjects  of  interest  to  the  learned  pro- 
fessions, or  of  such  as  could,  through  the  medium 
of  practical  inventions,  be  made  to  enure  to  the  benefit 
of  the  community. 

The  high  estimation  in  which  letters  were  held  was 
indicated  by  the  honors  paid  to  writers  and  the  con- 
sideration attaching  to  the  office  of  public  librarian. 
In  the  catalogues  were  inscribed  not  only  the  title  of 
the  work,  but  the  name,  the  parentage,  the  dates  of 
the  birth  and  of  the  decease  of  the  author;  and,  not 
infrequently,  interesting  biographical  notices  were 
appended  to  the  already  ample  record.  In  the 
provinces,  the  custody  of  the  assembled  manuscripts 
was  entrusted  to  a  noble  of  distinction;  but  at  the 
capital  the  charge  of  the  magnificent  library  of  AI7 
Hakem  was  considered  an  employment  worthy  of 
royalty  itself,  and  was  committed  to  Abd-al-Aziz,  a 
brother  of  the  Khalif .  The  general  supervision  of 
all  educational  institutions  was  exercised  by  Al- 
Mondhir,  another  brother  of  Al-Hakem,  who,  in  the 
absence  of  the  sovereign,  presided  over  the  contests  of 
the  famous  literary  institute  in  which  were  exhibited 
the  talents  and  the  learning  of  the  aspiring  scholars  of 
the  empire. 

The  indefatigable  energy  of  the  Arabs  exhausted 
every  soim^e  of  knowledge.  Not  only  did  they  trans- 
late the  masterpieces  of  Greek  and  Roman  literature, 
but  they  familiarized  themselves  with  Persian,  Chal- 
daic,  Hebrew,  Chinese,  Hindu,  and  Sanscrit  works. 
Honein  translated  the  Septuagint  into  Arabic.  Abul-* 
f  eda  was  the  first  to  direct  attention  to  the  so-called 
inconsistencies  of  the  Pentateuch  and  the  pronounced 

Vol-  III.-SO 


466  HisroBY  of  the 

materialistic  character  pervading  it;  to  its  want  of 
coherence;  to  its  apparent  solecisms;  to  state  that  it 
contains  no  mention  of  a  future  life,  of  heaven  or  hell, 
of  the  immortality  of  the  soul;  and  to  suggest  that  its 
legends  indicate  a  Persian  rather  than  a  Jewish  deri- 
vation. Averroes  had  mastered  and  embraced  the 
philosophical  ideas  of  India;  he  believed  in  the  Uni- 
versal Intellect;  the  popular  religious  fictions  which 
evoke  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  vulgar  he  treated  with 
contempt.  The  precocity  and  vast  intellectual  powers 
of  the  great  scholars  of  Islam  are  almost  beyond 
belief.  Avicenna,  at  sixteen,  had  attained  to  such 
eminence  that  learned*  and  experienced  physicians 
came  from  remote  countries  to  enjoy  the  benefit  of 
his  wisdom;  at  twenty-two  he  was  Grand  Vizier. 
Abul-Hamid-al-Isfaraini  was  accustomed  to  lecture 
every  day  on  a  new  topic  to  a  class  of  seven  hundred 
students  of  jurisprudence.  Yezid-Ibn-Harun,  of 
Bagdad,  knew  by  heart  thirty  thousand  traditions. 
All  were  pantheists  or  agnostics.  The  generally 
irreverent  spirit  of  the  age  is  disclosed  by  the  epigram 
of  Abu-Ala-Temouki,  **  The  world  is  divided  into 
two  classes  of  people, — one  with  wit  and  no  religion, 
the  other  with  religion  and  little  wit." 

The  instruction  imparted  by  the  provincial  acade- 
mies of  the  empire  and  by  the  University  of  Cordova 
— ^the  centre  of  the  intellectual  activity  of  Europe — 
was  essentially  infidel  in  character  and  tendency.  The 
influence  of  these  institutions  upon  the  public  mind 
was  immense  and  far-reaching.  Thousands  of  stu- 
dents attended  their  lectures.  Their  professors  were 
the  first  scholars  of  the  age,  whose  genius  and  abilities 
were  not  limited  to  the  duties  of  their  calling,  but 
who  at  times  administered  with  equal  dexterity  and 
success  the  most  important  judicial  and  diplomatic 
employments.  Education  was  in  a  measure  compid- 
sory,  and,  to  obtain  additional  force  for  the  mandates 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  467 

of  the  law,  the  sanction  of  religion  was  enlisted,  and 
the  school  became  an  indispensable  appendage  to  the 
mosque.  The  various  institutions  appertaining  to  the 
academic  system  of  the  Peninsula  which  culminated  in 
the  University  were  graded  much  as  are  those  of  mod- 
em times.  In  Cordova  were  eight  hundred  public 
schools  frequented  alike  by  Moslems,  Christians,  and 
Jews,  where  instruction  was  imparted  by  lectures. 
The  natural  quickness  which  distinguished  the  intel- 
lectual faculties  of  the  Arab,  and  his  phenomenally 
retentive  memory,  enabled  him  to  achieve  results  of 
incalculable  value  to  the  development  of  his  civiliza- 
tion. This  marvellous  progress  was  promoted  by 
every  incentive  which  could  arouse  the  energies  of 
the  aspiring  or  the  covetous, — ^by  the  expected  favor 
of  the  monarch,  by  the  prospect  of  exalted  and  hon- 
orable dignities,  by  the  certainty  of  magnificent 
rewards,  by  the  hope  of  social  distinction,  by  the 
ambition  of  literary  fame.  There  was  not  a  village 
within  the  limits  of  the  empire  where  the  blessings  of 
education  could  not  be  enjoyed  by  the  children  of  the 
most  indigent  peasant,  and  the  universities  of  Gra- 
nada, Seville,  and  Cordova  were  held  in  the  highest 
estimation  by  the  scholars  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  Eu- 
rope. In  the  various  departments  of  these  great  insti- 
tutions were  taught,  in  addition  to  the  doctrines  of 
the  Koran  and  the  principles  of  Mohammedan  law, 
the  classics,  the  exact  sciences,  medicine,  music,  poetry, 
and  art.  In  the  superintendence  of  academies  and 
colleges,  the  profession  of  Islamism  was  not  consid- 
ered an  indispensable  prerequisite  by  a  liberal  and  en- 
lightened public  sentiment;  scholarly  acquirements 
and  devotion  to  learning  were  the  accepted  criterions 
of  fitness  for  the  direction  of  youth;  and  both  Jews 
and  Christians  attained  to  acknowledged  distinction 
as  professors  in  the  great  University  of  the  capital. 
In  the  ninth  century,  in  the  department  of  theology 


488  HoxoKT  or  tSK 

alone,  four  thousand  students  were  enrolled,  and  the 
total  number  in  attendance  at  the  University  readied 
almost  eleven  thousand.  Nor  were  these  priceless 
educational  privileges  restricted  to  one  people  or  to 
ihe  votaries  of  a  single  faith.  The  doors  of  the  col- 
lege were  open  to  students  of  every  nationality,  and 
the  Andidusian  Moor  received  tiie  rudiments  of 
knowledge  at  the  same  time  and  under  the  same  con- 
ditions as  liie  literary  pilgrims  from  Asia  Minor  and 
Egypt,  from  Germany,  France,  and  Britain.  A  re- 
markable correspondence  exists  between  the  proced- 
ure established  by  those  institutions  and  the  methods 
of  the  present  day.  They  had  their  collegiate  courses, 
their  prizes  for  proficiency  in  scholarship,  their  ora- 
torical and  poetical  contests,  their  commencements, 
their  degrees.  In  the  department  of  medicine,  a 
severe  and  prolonged  examination,  conducted  by  the 
most  eminent  physicians  of  the  capital,  was  exacted 
of  all  candidates  desirous  of  practising  their  profes- 
sion, and  sudi  as  were  unable  to  stand  the  test  were 
formally  pronounced  incompetent.  Great  and  invalu- 
able contributions  to  the  fund  of  historical  and  sci- 
entific information  were  made  by  the  members  of 
the  various  academies  and  schools.  They  composed 
voluminous  treatises  on  surgery  and  medidne.  They 
bestowed  upon  the  stars  the  Arabic  names  which  still 
cover  liie  map  of  the  heavens.  Above  the  lofty  sta- 
tion of  the  muezzin,  as  he  called  the  devout  to  prayer, 
were  projected  against  the  sky  the  implements  of 
science  to  whose  uses  religion  did  not  refuse  the 
shelter  of  her  temples, — ^the  gnomon,  the  astrolabe,  the 
pendulum  clock,  and  the  armiUary  sphere. 

The  trading  expeditions  of  the  adventurous  Arab 
had  long  before  familiarized  him  with  the  relative 
positions,  areas,  and  natural  productions  of  the  prin- 
cipal countries  of  tiie  globe.  But  the  princes  of  the 
Western  Khalifate,  not  satisfied  with  the  results  acd* 


MOOBIIS  "Rm^I^W  XV  pUBOFS  468 

dentaUy  obtainedi  frequently  despatdied  to  the  most 
distant  regions  accomplished  scholars  with  the  object 
of  making  new  contributions  to  art,  literature,  and 
geography.  In  consequence  of  these  extensive  voy- 
ages, no  science  was  better  understood  by  the  Moorish 
teachers  than  that  treating  of  the  earth's  surface;  and 
its  practical  application  was  demonstrated  by  means 
of  accurate  representations  of  its  principal  features 
carved  in  relief  upon  globes  of  copper  and  silver. 

In  the  cultivation  of  the  two  sciences,  geography 
was  considered  as  dependent  on  history,  and  was  often 
treated  in  connection  with  it  and  in  a  subordinate  ca« 
padty.  The  Chaldean  shepherds  had  already,  upon 
the  plains  of  Asia  Minor,  by  the  measurement  of  a 
degree  of  a  great  circle,  determined  the  form  and 
dimensions  of  the  earth;  their  observations  had  been 
confirmed  by  the  experiments  of  the  Khalif  Al*Ma- 
mun;  and  these  important  data  were  carried  into 
Spam  with  many  other  treasures  of  Oriental  wisdom. 
The  earth  was  whimsically  divided  into  seven  zones 
or  climates,  to  correspond  with  the  seven  planets  and 
the  seven  metals  known  to  the  Arabs,  that  number 
having  with  them,  as  with  other  branches  of  the  Semi« 
tic  race,  a  peculiar  and  mystic  significance.  With  the 
Arab,  however,  the  study  of  the  earth  was  rather  topo- 
graphical than  geometric;  his  measurements  were  con- 
fined to  the  estimated  distances  between  important 
points;  and  his  figures  were  approximately  calculated 
according  to  the  popular  but  imreliable  conception 
of  the  length  of  a  day's  journey,  which  was  usually 
twenty-five  miles  on  land  and  a  hundred  miles  by  sea. 
The  geographer,  in  his  description  of  the  provinces 
of  a  country,  devoted  much  space  to  the  location  of 
springs,  wells,  and  rivulets,  a  consideration  of  more 
importance  in  the  mind  of  the  traveller  whose  ante- 
cedents were  to  be  traced  to  the  pathless  and  arid 
wastes  of  Arabia  than  were  even  the  woody  shores  and 


470  HurroBY  op  the 

unruffled  harbors  of  an  hospitable  coast  to  the  eye  of 
the  shipwrecked  mariner. 

Nor  must  the  libraries  be  omitted  from  this  list  of 
those  factors  of  progress  which  so  signally  contributed 
to  public  enlightenment  and  to  the  formation  of  na- 
tional character.  There  was  no  city  of  importance 
without  at  least  one  of  these  treasure-houses  of  litera- 
ture. Their  shelves  were  open  to  every  apphcant. 
Catalogues  facilitated  the  examination  of  the  collec- 
tions and  the  classification  of  the  various  subjects. 
Many  of  the  volumes  were  enriched  with  illuminations 
of  wonderful  beauty;  the  more  precious  were  bound 
in  embossed  leather  and  fragrant  woods;  some  were 
inlaid  with  gold  and  silver.  Here  were  to  be  found 
all  the  learning  of  the  past  and  all  the  discoveries  of 
the  present  age, — ^the  philosophy  of  Athens,  the  as- 
tronomy of  Babylon,  tiie  science  of  Alexandria,  the 
results  of  prolonged  observation  and  experiment  on 
the  towers  and  in  the  laboratories  of  Cordova  and 
Seville.  Here  also  were  mysterious  treatises  of 
Indian  lore,  whose  origin  ascended  beyond  the  records 
of  history,  whose  doctrines,  perused  for  centuries  in 
a  dead  language,  had  travelled  through  the  medium 
of  Greek  and  Arabic  versions  from  the  Indus  to  the 
Guadalquivir,  and  were  ultimately  destined  to  form 
the  basis  of  the  pantheistic  ideas  popular  among  edu- 
cated persons  at  the  present  day.  These  opinions  had, 
long  anterior  to  the  invasion  of  Tank,  provoked  the. 
curiosity  and  engaged  the  attention  of  studious  Mo- 
hammedans. Under  the  khalif  ate,  and  subsequently, 
they  were  taught  in  the  schools  of  the  Peninsula,  fig- 
ured in  elaborate  disquisitions  of  philosophers,  formed 
the  subject  of  learned  discussion  in  lyceums  and  lit- 
erary assemblies.  Their  vital  principles  were  founded 
upon  the  eternity  of  matter,  the  unity  of  intellect,  the 
final  absorption  of  the  spirit  of  the  individual  into 
the  Soul  of  the  World.    They  accounted  for  the  sue- 


MooBiSH  Empirb  in  Eubofe  471 

cession  of  natural  phenomena  by  laws  resulting  from 
inevitable  necessity.  They  refused  to  acknowledge 
the  possibility  of  the  supernatural,  and  renounced  the 
time-honored  and  popular  idea  of  incessant  providen- 
tial interventions.  They  ridiculed  the  apparitions  of 
angels  and  demons  as  phantasms  evoked  by  the  credu- 
lity and  fears  of  the  ignorant.  The  tenets  and  cere- 
monial of  religion  were  regarded  as  the  convenient 
pretexts  and  apparatus  of  imposture.  The  origin  of 
life  was  explained  by  the  development  of  the  germ 
through  its  latent  force.  The  law  of  progressive  evo- 
lution was  considered  susceptible  of  universal  appli- 
cation, as  embracing  animal,  vegetable,  even  mineral, 
forms.  The  theory  of  Lord  Monboddo,  promulgated 
in  the  eighteenth  century  and  elaborated  with  such 
ingenuity  by  Darwin  in  our  own  time,  was,  it  is  evi- 
dent, far  from  being  original  with  either;  for  Moor- 
ish philosophers  had,  ages  before,  elucidated  its  lead- 
ing principles.  Thus,  in  the  end,  they  even  went  to 
the  extent  of  including  in  its  operations  every  descrip- 
tion of  matter, — ^a  course  of  thought  evidently  sug- 
gested by  advanced  Hindu  conceptions  and  confirmed 
by  the  fancied  analogy  between  the  transmutation  of 
metals  and  the  transmigration  of  souls,  doctrines  also 
imported  from  the  extreme  Orient.  These  ideas,  so 
antagonistic  to  the  dogmas  of  religion,  while  long 
entertained  in  secret,  had  been  first  publicly  advocated 
by  Solomon-ben-6abirol,  the  Jewish  philosopher  of 
Malaga,  during  the  eleventh  century.  The  Moorish 
school  of  rationalism  soon  included  many  distin- 
guished names.  The  development  of  the  mental 
faculties  of  humanity  was  dedared  to  be  a  manifes- 
tation of  the  incessant  activity  of  the  omnipotent,  in- 
tellectual principle  that  pervaded  all  Natiu-e.  The 
supreme  object  of  human  existence  was  the  mastery 
of  the  sensations  by  the  purer  and  nobler  parts  of  the 
soul. 


47S  HxSKttT  or  TBB 

From  these  speculations,  generally  accepted,  the 
opinions  of  many  of  the  Hispano-Arab  philosophers 
in  time  exhibited  wide  and  radical  divergence.    Somef 
it  is  true,  adhered  to  Peripatetic  Pantheism  in  its 
integrity.     Others  oscUlated  between  the  extremes 
of  mysticism  and  materialism.    Against  all,  without 
exception,  the  doctors  and  the  populace  displayed  a 
mortal  hatred,  whose  influence  even  royal  favor  was 
not  always  able  to  withstand.    Those  who  had  risen 
to  political  eminence  were  compelled  to  relinquish  their 
employments.    Many  were  driven  into  e:dle.    The 
intensity  of  popular  odium  forced  those  who  still 
pursued  their  studies  into  obscurity,  sometimes  into 
pemuy.    Consciousness  of  a  defective  title  to  the 
crown  often  impelled  a  prince  to  resort  to  the  ignoble 
expedient  of  persecuting  science  for  the  sake  of  ob- 
taining popularity.    It  was  thus  that  Al-Mansur,  the 
greatest  of  Moorish  conquerors,  himself  an  enthusiast 
for  and  an  adept  in  the  very  studies  he  professed  to 
condemn,  as  a  political  measure  for  the  consolidation 
of  his  power  discouraged  literature  and  oppressed 
philosophy* 

In  spite  of  the  extraordinary  literary  privileges 
within  their  grasp,  the  masses  of  Moorish  Spain — 
largely  dominated  by  African  influence — ^never  ad- 
vanced beyond  the  primary  stage  of  learning.  It  is 
true  that  they  appreciated,  in  a  measure,  the  benefits 
accruing  from  tiie  employment  of  scientific  methods 
in  their  various  occupations  of  a  medianical  or  agri- 
cultural character.  But  this  reluctant  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  advantages  of  science  extended  no  fur- 
ther. The  invincible  prejudices  of  the  Semitic  race 
clung  to  them  through  all  the  phases  of  their  civili- 
zation. They  never  discarded  the  opinions  bom  of  a 
pastoral  life,  of  all  the  most  conducive  to  the  perpetu- 
ation of  ignorance.  Their  antipathy  to  innovation 
was  only  exceeded  by  the  aversion  tiiey  entertained 


MooaiaH  Expibs  in  Eubofb  478 

towards  all  who  questioned  the  authenticity  of  their 
religious  belief,  Greek  philosophy  they  regarded 
with  undisguised  detestation.  For  their  countrymen 
who  devoted  themselves  to  its  study  they  evinced  an 
abhorrence  greater  even  than  that  with  winch  they  re- 
garded apostasy. 

The  most  famous  of  the  natural  philosophers  of 
Mohammedan  Spain,  whose  transcendent  ability  has 
caused  him  to  be  considered  the  exemplar  of  all,  was 
Ibn-Roschid»  popularly  known  as  Averroes.  His  life 
embraced  the  greater  portion  of  the  twelfth  century; 
his  voluminous  works  on  theology,  jurisprudence,  phi- 
losophy, and  medicine  denote  an  important  epoch  in 
Arabic  literature;  and  his  influence,  which  prepon- 
derated over  that  of  any  writer  of  his  age,  has  sur- 
vived the  overthrow  of  his  government,  the  dispersion 
of  his  people,  the  abandonment  of  his  language,  and 
the  manifold  catastrophes  of  more  than  seven  hundred 
years.  His  industry  was  indefatigable.  It  is  said 
that  during  the  greater  part  of  his  life  there  were  but 
two  nights  which  he  did  not  pass  in  study, — ^the  night 
of  his  marriage  and  that  of  the  death  of  his  father. 
The  genius  he  displayed  in  other  professions  has  been 
overshadowed  by  the  reputation  he  acquired  as  a  phi- 
losopher. He  occupied  the  responsible  position  of 
first  physician  to  the  Almohade  Emir,  Yakub-Al- 
Mansur-Billah.  He  administered  for  a  time  the  office 
of  Grand  Kadi  of  Cordova.  His  immense  erudition 
was  the  wonder  of  Europe.  His  commentaries  on 
Aristotle  were  more  highly  esteemed  by  his  disciples 
and  admirers  than  were  even  the  originals,  the  master- 
pieces of  the  great  founder  of  the  Peripatetics.  His 
popularity  with  the  Jews  was  so  great  that  manu- 
scripts of  his  works  are  more  niunerous  in  Hebrew 
than  any  other  book  except  the  Pentateuch.  By  his 
Mussulman  contemporaries  he  was  believed  to  have 
concluded  a  compact  with  Satan;  to  Christian  theo« 


174  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

logians  his  name  has  ever  been  a  synonym  of  eviL 
The  audacity  of  his  opinions  was  indeed  calculated 
to  provoke  ecclesiastical  indignation.  He  diligently 
inculcated  the  Indian  dogma  of  Emanation  and  Ab- 
sorption. He  treated  all  revelations  as  impostures. 
Religions  he  pronounced  convenient  instruments  of 
statecraft,  admirable  contrivances  for  the  preservation 
of  order  and  the  encouragement  of  morality.  The 
three  then  predominant  in  the  world  he  held  in  equal 
contempt, — ^the  Christian  he  declared  was  impossible; 
the  Jewish  he  characterized  as  a  creed  adapted  only  to 
children;  the  Mohammedan  as  a  doctrine  for  swine. 
He  indulged  in  sarcasms  highly  derogatory  to  the 
sanctity  of  the  Eucharist.  His  popularity  among  the 
clerical  profession  was  not  enhanced  by  the  saying 
attributed  to  him:  "  The  tyrant  is  he  who  governs  for 
himself  and  not  for  the  people,  and  the  worst  of 
tyrannies  is  that  of  the  priest." 

The  power  of  public  opinion,  stimulated  by  the 
efforts  of  orthodox  Mussulmans,  procured  the  dis- 
grace of  Averroes.  He  was  deprived  of  his  judicial 
office.  The  honorable  post  of  court  physician  was 
taken  from  him.  He  was  compelled  to*  seek  refuge  in 
Africa;  his  property  was  confiscated;  and,  in  age 
and  infirmity,  he  was  exposed  to  the  insults  of  the 
fanatical  rabble,  who  spat  in  his  face  as  he  sat  help- 
less at  the  door  of  the  mosque  of  Fez.  With  his  death 
in  1198  disappeared  from  the  Peninsula  every  out- 
ward trace  of  the  doctrines  of  which  he  had  been  both 
the  champion  and  the  representative.  Posterity,  on 
account  of  the  variety  and  excellence  of  his  intellectual 
gifts,  the  extent  of  his  erudition,  and  the  boldness  with 
which  he  asserted  his  opinions,  has  seen  fit  to  dissociate 
him  from  the  other  learned  men  of  his  epoch,  his  in- 
structors, his  collaborators,  his  disciples.  There  were 
many  other  philosophers,  however,  such  as  Solomon- 
ben-Gabirol,  Ibn-Badja,  Ibn-Tofail,  Ibn-Zohr,  who 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  475 

were  his  equals  in  learning  and  scarcely  inferior  to  him 
in  natural  courage  and  in  argumentative  ingenuity 
and  eloquence. 

The  apparent  extinction  of  his  theories,  obnoxious 
alike  to  muftis  and  populace,  was  illusory.  Intro- 
duced with  other  branches  of  Moslem  science  by  the 
Jews,  through  the  convenient  channels  of  France  and 
Italy,  they  eventually  permeated  the  intellectual  life 
df  Europe.  The  Universities  of  Paris  and  Padua, 
the  literary  centres  of  the  age,  were  from  the  four- 
teenth to  the  sixteenth  century  foci  of  infidelity.  The 
impiety  of  propositions  openly  promulgated  by  the 
faculties  of  those  two  great  institutions  would  to-day 
shock  any  one  except  the  most  daring  agnostic.  The 
seed  thus  sown  bore  abundant  fruit.  All  Italy  be- 
came tainted  with  heresy.  The  Lateran  Council,  sum- 
moned to  place  the  official  stamp  of  ecclesiastical  con- 
demnation upon  the  prohibited  doctrines,  was  unable 
to  check  their  progress.  The  Jews  carried  these  ideas 
everjrwhere;  scholastics  adopted  them;  they  were 
even  disseminated  by  members  of  the  monastic  orders. 
Alexander  de  Hales,  of  the  Franciscans,  was  one  of 
their  ardent  advocates.  Robert  Grossetete,  Bishop 
of  Lincoln,  second  in  attainments  and  reputation  only 
to  his  great  contemporary  Roger  Bacon,  believed  in 
the  Universal  Intellect.  It  was  Savonarola  who 
wrote,  "  lUe  ingenio  divinus  homo  Averroes  philoso- 
phus."  From  the  propagation  of  these  theories  was 
derived  the  idea  of  the  mythical  book,  entitled  De 
Tribus  Impostoribus,  an  alleged  satire  aimed  at 
Moses,  Christ,  and  Mohanuned,  variously  attributed 
to  a  score  of  authors;  supposed  to  be  filled  with 
blasphemy;  whose  very  title  was  a  powerful  weapon 
in  the  hands  of  the  clergy,  yet  whose  publication  was 
apocryphal,  and  whose  contents  were  necessarily 
purely  imaginary. 

The  general  acceptance  and  perpetuation  of  the 


/ 
/ 


476  HlSXQRT  QB  TBS 

opinions  of  Averroes,  denounced  from  every  pulpit, 
persecuted  by  the  secular  authority  and  anathematized 
by  councils,  is  a  striking  proof  of  the  universal  de- 
cline of  ecclesiastical  power.  The  most  popular  poeti- 
cal compositions  bore  the  impress  of  tibie  prevailing 
spirit  of  incredulity  and  pantheism,  which  indeed 
pervaded,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  every  class  of 
literature.  It  was  in  vain  that  those  most  deeply  con- 
cerned vehemently  protested  against  the  alarming 
growth  of  this  detested  heresy.  No  rank  of  the  cleri- 
cal order  was  exempt  from  its  effects;  it  was  whis- 
pered that  its  insidious  influence  had  even  penetrated 
the  sacred  precincts  of  the  Vatican.  That  influence 
was  transmitted  unimpaired  to  posterity,  and  modem 
science  is  largely  indebted  for  its  inquisitive  and  im- 
partial spirit  to  the  doctrines  of  the  great  Arabian 
philosopher  of  the  twelfth  century. 

In  their  treatment  and  application  of  the  exact 
sciences,  and  especially  in  the  development  of  the 
higher  branches  of  mathematics,  the  Spanish  Moham- 
medans exhibited  pre-eminent  ability.  The  Arabs 
were  the  first  to  ascertain  with  accuracy  the  length  of 
the  year.  They  tabulated  the  movements  of  the  stars. 
They  discovered  the  third  lunar  inequality  of  46'  six 
hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Tycho  Brahe.  They 
determined  the  eccentricity  of  the  sun's  orbit;  the 
movement  of  its  apogee;  the  progressive  diminution 
of  the  obliquity  of  the  ecliptic;  the  amount  of  the 
precession  of  the  equinoxes.  To  them  is  due  tiie 
credit  of  having  introduced  to  the  knowledge  of 
Europe  many  ingenious  devices  and  processes  of  cal- 
culation which  diminished  labor,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  opened  new  fields  of  investigation  that  otherwise 
might  have  remained  unknown  and  unexplored.  The 
grand  work  of  Ptolemy,  the  Sjmtaxis,  had,  under  the 
name  of  the  Almagest,  been  translated  before  the 
ninth  century,  and  been  revised  by  Isaac-ben-Honein 


Moorish  EMpmB  in  Eubope  477 

in  827.  In  the  tenth  century,  the  famous  Abul-Wef a, 
of  Bagdad,  wrote  an  astronomical  treatise  to  which 
he  gave  the  same  name,  which  caused  the  two  to  be 
long  confounded  by  scholars.  Both  of  these  composi- 
tions, equally  wonderful  for  their  learning,  were  early 
known  to  the  Spanish  Arabs.  The  numerals  of 
India,  which  they  adopted,  at  once  superseded  the 
cumbersome  Roman  characters  hitherto  in  use.  The 
decimal  system  was  also  introduced  by  them.  They 
greatly  advanced  the  study  of  algebra,  whose  scope 
and  possibilities  had  previously  been  imperfectly  un- 
derstood, and  applied  it  to  geometry.  They  substi- 
tuted sines  for  chords,  invented  modem  trigonometry, 
proposed  a  formula  for  the  solution  of  cubic  equa- 
tions. They  imderstood  the  principles  of  the  calculus. 
Grcber,  of  Seville,  published  rules  for  one  of  the  most 
important  demonstrations  of  spherical  trigonometry. 
Al-Zarkal,  of  Toledo,  was  the  first  to  suggest  the 
substitution  of  the  elliptical  orbit  to  correct  the  errors 
of  the  generally  accepted  Ptolemaic  system,  thus  an- 
ticipating •Copernicus  and  Kepler.  In  his  attempts 
to  determine  the  movement  of  the  sun's  apogee  alone, 
he  made  four  hundred  and  two  observations;  and  the 
result  he  obtained  was  within  a  fraction  of  a  second 
of  the  amount  declared  to  be  correct  by  modem 
astronomers.  Abul-Hassan-Ali,  by  a  series  of  obser- 
vations extending  over  a  distance  of  nine  hundred 
leagues  to  establish  the  elevation  of  the  pole,  esti- 
mated with  precision  the  dimensions  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. The  catalogue  made  by  Ibn-Sina  contains 
a  thousand  and  twenty-two  stars.  Ibn-Abi-Thalta 
studied  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies  with- 
out intermission  for  thirty  years.  Averroes,  while 
computing  the  motion  of  the  planet  Mercury,  dis- 
covered spots  upon  the  sun.  The  far  greater  portion 
of  the  results  of  the  labors  of  the  Moorish  astronomi- 
cal observers  of  the  Peninsula,  having  shared  the 


478  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

general  fate  of  the  monuments  of  Moslem  learning, 
are  lost.  No  complete  copy  of  the  works  of  any 
Arab  astronomer  who  lived  since  the  ninth  century  is 
known  to  exist.  The  extent  of  this  calamity  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  in  the  royal  library  of 
Cairo  there  were  six  thousand  works  on  mathematics, 
copies  of  many  of  which  must  have  been  in  the  hands 
of  the  Moslems  of  Spain,  and  none  of  which  have  sur- 
vived. They  made  constant  use  of  the  formulas  of 
Ibn-Junis  for  tangents  and  secants,  of  whose  exist- 
ence Europe  was  ignorant  for  six  hundred  years 
after  their  publication.  As  the  duty  of  pilgrimage 
promoted  the  study  of  geography,  so  an  acquaint- 
ance with  astronomy  was  rendered  necessary  to  Mo- 
hammedans by  the  requirements  of  their  religion.  In 
order  to  determine  the  direction  of  Mecca,  an  exact 
knowledge  of  the  points  of  the  compass  was  indis- 
pensable. It  was  equally  important  to  establish, 
without  error,  the  hours  of  prayer  and  of  diurnal 
ablution,  and  the  dates  of  festivals  which  began  with 
the  rising  of  the  moon.  These  considerations,  which 
invested  astronomical  pursuits  with  a  semi-religious 
character,  greatly  promoted  their  popularity.  The 
study  of  mathematics  was,  independently  of  this  in- 
fluence, an  occupation  especially  congenial  to  the 
Arab  mind.  In  all  the  schools  were  globes,  both  ter- 
restrial and  celestial,  of  wood  and  metal,  planispheres, 
and  astrolabes.  The  construction  of  these  latter  in- 
struments, the  precursors  of  the  sextant,  as  perfected 
by  the  Arabs,  was  very  complicated,  and  demanded 
the  exercise  of  the  highest  degree  of  scientific  in- 
genuity. They  were  used  for  the  measurement  of 
angles,  and  for  ascertaining  the  hour  either  of  the  day 
or  night.  Some  had  as  many  as  five  tables,  were  en- 
graved on  both  sides,  and  were  provided  at  the  bot- 
tom with  eleven  different  projections  for  as  many 
horizons.    On  them  were  represented  the  movement 


Moorish  Empibe  m  Eubofe  479 

of  the  celestial  sphere,  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  and 
the  position  of  the  principal  stars  and  constellations. 
Interdiangeable  plates,  calculated  for  different  lati- 
tudes, facilitated  observations  wherever  made.  It 
was  not  unusual  for  an  astrolabe  to  give  the  latitudes 
of  nearly  a  hundred  cities.  The  invention  of  the 
pierced  gnomon  by  Ibn-Junis  greatly  simplified  ob- 
servations made  to  determine  the  altitude  of  the  sun. 
The  passage  of  time  was  usually  marked  by  sundials, 
and  by  clepsydras  of  complex  and  elaborate  mechan- 
ism. The  oscillatory  property  of  suspended  bodies, 
represented  by  the  isochronism  of  the  pendulum,  was 
familiar  to  the  Arabs,  who  had  adapted  it  to  a  con- 
trivance whose  construction  resembled  that  of  the 
modem  clock,  an  invention  generally  attributed  to 
Galileo.  Many  of  the  instruments  used  by  them  in 
their  astronomical  observations  were  of  enormous 
dimensions.  Some  of  their  armillary  spheres  were 
twenty-five  feet  in  diameter,  and  quadrants  with  a 
radius  of  fifteen  feet  were  not  uncommon.  The 
bronze  sextant,  employed  in  the  tenth  century  for  the 
determination  of  the  obliquity  of  the  ecliptic  and  de- 
scribed by  Abul-Hassan,  of  Morocco,  had  a  radius 
of  fifty-eight  feet,  and  its  arc  was  divided  into 
seconds.  At  that  time  astronomy,  especially  among 
the  Spanish  Moslems,  had  advanced  as  far  as  was  pos- 
sible without  the  use  of  the  telescope.  It  was  through 
the  influence  of  the  Arabs  that  knowledge  of  that 
science,  as  well  as  of  all  other  branches  of  mathe- 
matics, was  universally  diffused.  The  modem  al- 
manac, as  its  name  denotes,  is  their  invention,  and  the 
signs  by  which  it  designates  the  seven  planets  have 
been  transmitted  through  their  agency.  As  with  all 
pastoral  nations,  their  attention  was  early  directed  to 
the  phenomena  of  the  heavens.  They  noted  the  rising 
and  setting  of  certain  stars  which  seemed  intended  to 
mark  the  advent  of  the  seasons;  they  divided  the 


480  History  of  thb 

most  prominent  groups  into  constellations,  and  as- 
signed to  them,  as  did  the  Greeks,  a  fanciful  and 
legendary  origin  and  nomenclature.  With  the  prac- 
tice of  astral  worship,  incident  to  every  race  at  a  cer- 
tain stage  of  its  intellectual  progress,  was  associated 
the  study  of  astrology,  whose  principles,  based  upon 
the  imaginary  effect  of  benign  or  malignant  plan- 
etary influence,  has  still  in  educated  as  well  as  in 
ignorant  communities  its  enthusiastic  votaries.  The 
practice  of  this  false  but  attractive  science  was^  how- 
ever, in  no  age  confined  to  impostors.  Some  of  the 
greatest  minds  of  mediseval  or  modern  times  believed 
in  its  delusions,  which  were  especially  popular  with 
the  most  eminent  astronomers  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Tycho  Brahe,  who  gravely  interpreted  dreams,  drew 
the  horoscope  of  the  Emperor  Rudolph.  Even  the 
ability  of  Kepler  did  not  preserve  him  from  the  preva- 
lent superstition;  he  also  cast  horoscopes  and  pub- 
lished prophetic  almanacs.  Its  pursuit  led  to  the 
cultivation  of  other  and  more  debased  superstitions, — 
the  chimerical  follies  of  geomancy  and  oneiromancy, 
the  profane  rites  of  divination  and  magic,  the  belief 
in  the  occult  virtues  of  talismans  and  amulets.  The 
persistence  of  those  practices,  through  unnumbered 
centuries  to  the  present  time,  is  a  singular  commen- 
tary on  hmnan  credulity  in  enlightened  as  well  as  in 
unlettered  ages.  In  many  parts  of  Germany  the 
horoscope  of  an  infant  is  cast  at  its  nativity,  and  is 
religiously  preserved,  with  its  baptismal  certificate, 
until  the  hour  of  dissolution.  Our  farmers  sow  and 
reap  and  perform  the  various  duties  incident  to  rural 
economy  with  diligent  attention  to  the  phases  of  the 
moon.  Confidence  in  the  efficacy  of  talismans  is  even 
in  our  generation  far  from  extinct.  It  is  uncon- 
sciously manifested  in  the  cruciform  plan  of  our  ma- 
jestic cathedrals;  in  the  gilded  emblem  which  points 
heavenward  on  tiie  summits  of  their  loftiest  towers; 


Moorish  Emfibb  in  Eubofe  481 

in  the  curves  of  their  painted  windows,  glowing  with 
all  the  hues  of  the  rainbow;  in  the  armorial  bearings 
of  some  of  the  proudest  royal  houses  of  Europe;  in 
the  carvings  of  our  furniture;  in  the  horseshoe  sus- 
pended over  doorways;  in  the  Teraphim  and  the 
phylacteries  of  the  Jew;  in  the  holy  sjrmbols  em- 
broidered upon  the  vestments  of  the  Catholic  clergy; 
in  the  badges  of  our  secret  societies;  in  the  settings 
of  the  jewels  which  rise  and  fall  on  the  voluptuous 
bosom  of  Beauty.  The  superstition  of  the  evil-eye, 
universally  prevalent  in  the  Orient,  is  largely  respon- 
sible for  the  employment  of  charms.  It  is  not  im- 
probable that  this  belief  may  have  been  originally 
derived  from  the  peculiar  influence  exercised  by  some 
person  endowed  with  an  extraordinary  degree  of  hyp- 
notic power.  To  animal  magnetism — ^as  a  mysterious 
force — ^is  certainly  due  a  large  proportion  of  the 
magic  fascinations  of  ancient  times ;  and  the  power  of 
the  serpent  over  birds  and  animals  probably  gave  rise 
to  the  popular  fable  of  the  basilisk.  The  virtues  of 
amulets  were  derived,  according  to  common  opinion, 
not  from  the  substance  of  which  they  were  composed, 
but  from  the  portion  of  the  Universal  Intelligence  by 
which  they  were  supposed  to  be  tenanted. 

Thus  a  desire  to  penetrate  the  secrets  of  futurity 
and  avert  impending  misfortune  gave  rise  to  the 
spurious  science  of  astrology,  itself  the  parent  of 
astronomy.  The  European  Arabs  cultivated  both 
with  almost  equal  assiduity.  The  mind  of  the  philoso- 
pher, disciplined  by  the  daily  habit  of  mathemati- 
cal calculation,  was  yet  unable  to  discard  the  delusions 
of  the  horoscope  or  to  forget  the  visionary  and  ficti- 
tious properties  of  talismans.  In  the  mental  consti- 
tution of  the  ablest  Arabian  scholars,  the  fascination 
of  the  occult  and  the  forbidden  predominated  over 
the  experience  of  centuries,  the  influence  of  letters, 
and  the  dictates  of  reason. 

Vol.  III.— 31 


482  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

The  discoveries  of  Al-Hazen  in  optics,  communi- 
cated to  Europe  by  the  Spanish  and  Sicilian  Moham- 
medans, have  had  a  marked  effect  on  the  development 
of  that  science,  and  are  the  basis  of  all  that  we  know 
on  the  subject.  He  understood  the  cause  of  the 
twilight;  estimated  the  density  and  calculated  the 
height  of  the  atmosphere.  He  explained  by  the  prin- 
ciple of  refraction  why  celestial  bodies  are  visible 
when  they  are  actually  below  the  horizon.  He  dis- 
cussed the  effect  upon  vision  of  the  varying  trans- 
parency of  the  air,  and  suggested  that  beyond  our 
atmosphere  there  was  nothing  but  ether,  a  proposi- 
tion which  modem  astronomy  accepts.  First  of  all  in- 
vestigators, he  corrected  the  prevalent  fallacy  that  the 
rays  of  light  proceed  from  the  eye  to  the  object  seen, 
an  error  which  had  hitherto  deceived  all  who  had 
written  on  the  science  of  optics.  The  works  of  Al- 
Hazen  were  used  as  text-books  in  the  Andalusian  col- 
leges, and  they  were  jBrst  made  known  to  Christendom 
through  the  foreigners  who  came  to  study  Arabic 
learning  in  the  sdiools  of  Toledo.  Among  such 
literary  pilgrims  of  the  twelfth  century  were  the 
Englishmen  Adelard  of  Bath,  Robert  of  Reading, 
Daniel  Morley,  William  SheUey,  and  the  Italian 
Gerard  of  Cremona.  The  translations  of  Arabic 
works  into  Latin  introduced  by  the  labors  of  these  and 
subsequent  scholars  in  the  department  of  medicine 
alone  amount  to  nearly  four  hundred. 

Great  as  was  the  reputation  of  these  ambitious 
ecclesiastics  among  the  ignorant  masses  of  their  coun- 
trymen, it  did  not  approach  that  of  the  famous  G«r- 
bert,  whose  genius  had  unsuccessfully  attempted  the 
enlightenment  of  Europe  nearly  two  hundred  years 
before.  The  attainments  of  that  accomplished 
scholar,  respectable  in  any  age,  were  so  superior  to 
those  of  his  contemporaries  that,  as  has  been  pre- 
viously stated,  they  procured  for  him  the  unenviable 


Moorish  EmpIbe  in  Europe  *  488 

and  dangerous  title  of  magician.  A  native  of  Aqni- 
taine,  of  obscure  birth  and  without  resources,  his 
talents  early  attracted  the  notice  of  the  Count  of 
Barcelona,  who  provided  for  his  education  in  that 
dty.  Thence,  after  a  time,  he  visited  the  principal 
Moorish  cities  of  Andalusia.  It  was  the  tenth  cen* 
tury,  the  epoch  of  the  highest  prosperity  and  mag- 
nificence of  the  Ommeyade  Elialif ate.  Everywhere 
were  visible  the  effects  of  that  civilization  which  had 
no  rival  in  the  world.  The  thorough  agricultural  de- 
velopment of  the  country;  the  busy  seaports;  the 
luxurious  palaces;  the  populous  cities;  the  well-paved 
streets,  filled  by  day  with  surging  multitudes,  and 
lighted  at  night  by  tens  of  thousands  of  twinkling 
lamps;  the  illimitable  expanse  of  verdure  which 
marked  the  environs  of  the  great  Moorish  capital, 
broken  only  by  occasional  watch-towers  and  gilded 
minarets;  the  gorgeous  splendor  of  the  court;  the 
prodigious  libraries;  the  innimierable  schools  and 
colleges,  equipped  with  every  scientific  appliance 
known  to  Moslem  culture — colored  maps,  armils,  sun- 
dials, clepsydras,  hydrometers,  parallactic  rules,  quad- 
rants, astrolabes,  planispheres,  globes;  the  mosque 
with  its  throngs  of  pilgrims  gay  with  the  costumes  of 
every  land  acknowledging  the  creed  of  Islam, — ^these 
scenes  did  not  fail  to  profoundly  impress  the  young 
French  ecclesiastic,  already  imbued  with  prohibited 
ideas  and  'fresh  from  the  intolerance,  the  barbarism, 
the  credulity,  and  the  intellectual  debasement  of 
Christian  Europe.  The  mind  of  Gerbert  was  prompt 
to  recognize  the  manifold  advantages  to  be  derived 
from  familiarity  with  Moslem  institutions  and  erudi- 
tion. He  became  a  student  of  the  University  of  Cor- 
dova. During  the  few  years  he  remained  in  that  city, 
his  talents  and  perseverance  procured  for  him  a  fund 
of  scientific  information  unexampled  for  that  period. 
On  his  return  he  established  schools  in  both  Italy  and 


484  *  HiflxoBT  or  ths 

France,  He  imported  books  from  every  quarter  of 
the  world,  and  especially  from  Spain.  His  pupils, 
reckoned  by  thousands,  diffused  throughout  Europe 
the  fame  of  their  teacher  and  the  precepts  of  his 
works.  The  instruction  he  imparted  embodied  the 
forbidden  learning  taught  beyond  the  Pyrenees.  He 
was  the  first  to  explain  to  Europeans  the  abaxnis,  the 
Indian  numerals,  the  science  of  arithmetic.  He 
taught  geography  and  astronomy  from  globes  con- 
structed at  Cordova.  He  observed  the  motions  of  the 
planets  and  determined  the  elevation  of  the  pole 
through  diopters.  The  results  of  the  mechanical  in- 
genuity which  amused  his  leisure  moments  awakened 
the  horror  of  his  ignorant  and  pious  contemporaries. 
He  invented  a  steam  or  hydraulic  organ;  a  dock 
whose  mechanism  was  largely  composed  of  wheels  and 
pinions;  and  automatons  whose  mysterious  move- 
ments suggested  to  the  vulgar  a  diabolical  agency- 
He  improved  the  science  of  music.  His  system  of 
imparting  knowledge,  based  upon  experiment  and 
demonstration,  exhibited  a  radical  difference  from  the 
prevalent  methods  of  an  epoch  whose  instruction  was 
limited  to  Scriptural  texts  and  ecclesiastical  admoni- 
tion. The  renown  of  the  great  scholar  excited  the 
envy  of  the  monks,  to  whom  the  popular  imputation 
of  infernal  communion  afforded  a  pretext  for  per- 
secution. They  instigated  marauders  to  plunder  his 
abbey  at  Bobbio,  in  Italy.  His  library  was  burned, 
his  instruments  were  destroyed,  his  students  dispersed. 
This  ill-treatment,  so  far  from  being,  as  intended,  pre- 
judicial to  the  fortunes  of  Grerbert,  ultimately  pro- 
moted them.  His  reputation  was  everywhere  known, 
and  the  awe  his  wisdom  excited  was  increased  by  the 
supernatural  means  he  was  believed  to  employ.  He 
was  patronized  by  the  King  of  France  and  the  Em- 
peror of  Germany;  he  became  successively  Bishop  of 
Bbeims  and  of  Ravenna;  and,  through  the  influence 


Moorish  Empirx  m  Europe  4M 

of  the  latter  sovereign,  he  was,  in  the  year  099,  raised 
to  the  pontifical  dignity,  under  the  name  of  Sylvester 
II.  Even  in  that  exalted  position,  the  relentless  spirit 
of  ecclesiastical  malice  did  not  permit  him  to  rest. 
His  attempts  to  reform  clerical  abuses  brought  down 
upon  him  the  vengeance  of  the  corrupt  and  rapacious 
ministers  of  the  papal  court.  The  most  absurd 
fables  were  invented  to  account  for  the  results  of  his 
scientific  experiments,  otherwise  incomprehensible 
by  medisval  ignorance.  He  was  accused  of  gross  im- 
morality, blasphemy,  magical  incantations,  the  invo- 
cation of  demons.  It  was  whispered  that  goblins  of 
fantastic  dress  and  repulsive  aspect  attended  him  at 
midnight  during  the  celebration  of  impious  orgies  and 
profane  sacrifices.  The  diligent  propagation  of  these 
scandals  prepared  the  way  for  the  punishment  meted 
out  in  that  age  to  all  daring  reformers,  and  especially 
to  those  who  presumed  to  interfere  with  the  preroga- 
tives and  emoliunents  of  the  clergy.  A  victim  of  slow 
poison,  Sylvester  II.  survived  his  elevation  to  the 
Papacy  less  than  four  years.  His  name  was  anathe- 
matized, his  doctrines  condemned  as  heretical,  and  the 
perusal  of  his  writings  prohibited  as  contrary  to  the 
canons  of  the  Church  and  prejudicial  to  the  interests 
of  religion.  After  his  decease,  a  long  period  of  dark- 
ness again  clouded  the  Christian  world.  The  dawn- 
ing spirit  of  inquiry  thus  suppressed,  men  once  more 
turned  to  the  priest  for  counsel,  for  assistance,  for 
the  explanation  of  natural  phenomena,  for  the  cure 
of  disease.  Such  was  the  inauspicious  and  apparently 
futile  result  of  the  first  introduction  of  Arabian  learn- 
ing into  Roman  Catholic  Europe. 

The  unrivalled  excellence  of  the  agricultural 
methods  employed  by  the  Spanish  Mohammedans  was, 
in  large  measure,  due  to  their  profound  botanical 
knowledge.  That  science,  practicaUy  unknown  in  the 
desert  wastes  of  Arabia,  to  which  nature  has  be« 


486  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

^nidged  the  wealth  of  her  vegetable  kingdom,  was 
early  pursued  with  great  energy  and  success  by  the 
conquering  Moslems,  In  no  other  part  of  their  em- 
pire, however,  was  such  progress  made  in  its  study 
or  such  beneficial  results  obtained  from  the  culture 
of  plants  as  in  Andalusia.  Their  analysis  and  classi- 
fication, and  the  determination  of  their  properties, 
were  sedulously  encouraged  by  the  government.  The 
scientific  expeditions  of  the  khalif  s  collected  speci- 
mens and  seeds  from  every  quarter  of  the  world. 
Gardens  for  the  propagation  of  both  native  plants 
and  exotics  were  established  in  the  environs  of  all  the 
great  cities,  and  the  results  of  intelligent  observation 
and  experiment  were  regularly  tabulated  for  the  pub- 
lic benefit.  In  the  oases  of  the  Desert,  along  the 
banks  of  the  Nile,  on  the  fertile  plains  of  Mesopoto- 
tamia,  on  the  arid  plateaus  of  Central  Asia,  in  the 
pestilent  delta  of  the  Ganges,  the  botanists  of  Cor- 
dova added  to  the  stock  of  ideas  and  principles  to  be 
subsequently  developed  and  advantageously  applied 
in  the  valley  of  the  far  distant  Guadalquivir.  Nor 
were  their  efforts  confined  to  the  mere  collection  and 
examination  of  products  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 
Every  novel  appliance,  every  useful  invention,  which 
might  prove  beneficial  to  horticulture,  to  irrigation,  to 
the  various  branches  of  rural  economy,  were  diligently 
noted  and  carefully  preserved.  As  a  consequence  of 
these  laborious  researches,  the  Andalusian  Arabs  be- 
came more  proficient  in  the  kindred  sciences  of  botany 
and  agriculture  than  any  people  who  have  ever  ex- 
isted. In  their  country  were  concentrated  all  the 
fruits  of  the  learning  and  experience  of  centuries  then 
extant  in  the  world.  It  is  said  that  they  added  to  the 
herbals  of  the  ancients  more  than  two  thousand 
varieties  of  plants.  They  described  the  circulation  of 
the  sap;  they  understood  the  ofiices  of  the  bark  and 
the  leaves.    Every  source  of  information  was  thor- 


MooBiSH  Empire  ik  Eurofb  487 

oughly  explored.  Already,  in  the  tenth  century,  the 
treatise  of  Dioseorides  had  been  translated  into  Ara- 
bic by  a  monk  of  Constantinople,  sent  by  the  Em- 
peror at  the  special  request  of  the  Khalif,  because 
the  subjects  of  the  latter  were  ignorant  of  Greek. 
The  botanical  works  of  the  Hispano- Arabs  were  en- 
riched with  drawings  from  nature,  beautifully  exe- 
cuted in  colors.  When  Ibn-Beithar,  of  Malaga,  the 
most  famous  of  Moslem  botanists,  travelled  in  the 
Orient,  he  was  accompanied  by  a  corps  of  artists, 
whose  skill  preserved  the  form  and  tints  of  unfamiliar 
flora  in  all  their  beauty  and  perfection.  His  is  the 
greatest  name  in  the  annals  of  this  important  branch 
of  learning  from  Dioseorides  to  Linnceus,  an  interval 
of  fifteen  hundred  years. 

In  the  wide  range  of  philosophical  and  experimen- 
tal study,  however,  no  subject  was  so  congenial  to  the 
taste  of  the  Arab  or  appealed  more  strongly  to  his 
imagination  than  the  pursuit  of  the  spurious  science 
of  alchemy.  That  science  originated  in  Egypt,  the 
land  of  isolation,  of  enchantment,  of  prodigy.  Its 
investigation,  confined  to  a  privileged  class,  had  been 
protected  by  the  double  safeguard  of  religion  and 
secrecy.  For  innumerable  centuries  the  Egyptian 
priesthood,  the  sole  depositaries  of  knowledge,  had,  in 
laboratories  hidden  in  temples  or  excavated  in  the 
rocky  sides  of  mountains,  eagerly  devoted  themselves 
to  the  discovery  of  the  universal  panacea,  of  the 
elixir  of  life,  of  the  transmutation  of  inferior  metals 
into  gold.  The  Ptolemaic  dynasty,  heir  to  these  de- 
lusions so  acceptable  to  human  egotism  and  avarice, 
had  contributed  to  their  universal  dissemination  over 
Europe  and  Asia.  The  Arabs,  from  the  first  hour  of 
their  intellectual  emancipation,  prosecuted  with  alac- 
rity a  study  especially  adapted  to  their  national  in- 
clination and  genius.  The  fact  that  the  Koran  pro- 
hibits such  occupations  made  their  association  with 


488  HlSTQBT  OF  THE 

religion^  contrary  to  the  custom  in  Egypt,  imprac- 
ticable. At  Toledo  and  Cordova,  alchemy  was  not 
designated,  as  at  Memphis  and  Thebes,  the  '^  Sacred 
Art,"  cultivated  in  the  precincts  of  temples,  a)m- 
mimicated  only  to  royalty,  screened  from  the  pro- 
fanation of  the  vulgar  by  the  delusive  mummeries  of 
processions  and  sacrifices.  Its  close  relations  with 
thaumaturgy  and  divination,  with  astrology  and 
magic,  were  inevitable  consequences  of  the  uncer- 
tainty of  its  results,  and  of  the  mystery  that  envel- 
oped its  professors.  Ancient  Hebrew  tradition,  as 
disclosed  by  the  apocryphal  books  of  the  Bible,  asserts 
that  the  occult  arts  and  sciences  were  the  gift  of  evil 
spirits  to  the  children  of  men.  The  Romans  punished 
such  practices  with  death,  probably  for  the  reason 
that  they  came  into  competition  with  the  oracles,  a 
fruitful  source  of  revenue  and  prestige  to  the  state. 
Thus,  in  a  measure,  placed  under  the  ban  of  religion 
and  law,  a  subject  of  suspicion  and  fear  to  the  masses, 
the  study  of  alchemy  was  fraught  with  danger,  even 
amidst  the  Pagan  associations  of  antiquity.  In  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  endangered  interests  of  priestcraft 
added  to  legal  prohibition  and  the  prejudice  of  public 
opinion  the  resistless  force  of  their  condenmation. 

The  Spanish  Arabs,  passionately  fond  of  experi- 
ment and  novelty,  were  eminently  proficient  in  the 
technicalities  of  the  Hermetic  Art.  They  entertained 
the  idea  that  the  same  elements,  in  different  propor- 
tions, were  present  in  all  metals,  and  that,  by  certain 
processes  of  elimination,  any  metal, — as,  for  instance, 
gold, — could  be  obtained.  Like  their  masters,  the 
Alexandrian  Greeks,  they  concealed  their  discoveries 
in  the  obscurities  of  a  learned  jargon.  The  principles 
of  their  calling  were  indicated  by  mysterious  sym- 
bols, enigmatical  phrases,  mutilated  formulas,  capable 
of  interpretation  only  by  themselves.  With  the  ad- 
vancement of  learning,  the  operations  of  the  alchemist 


Moorish  EicpnoB  m  Eubofe  %M 

were  practised  with  less  concealment  and  mystery. 
His  labors  were  encouraged  by  the  khalif  s,  of  whom 
some  were  themselves  adepts,  And  prosecuted  their 
investigations  in  well-equipped  laboratories.  The 
prevalence  of  one  delusion  led  to  the  propagation  of 
others,  and  the  original  objects  of  alchemical  research 
became  conf  oimded  with  astrology,  mysticism,  and  all 
their  chimerical  relations  and  incidents, — ^theories  in- 
volving the  seven  planets  and  the  seven  metals,  the 
ceremonies  of  exorcism,  the  procuring  of  happiness 
by  the  identification  of  the  soul  with  the  Universal 
Intellect.  Attracted  by  the  profits  to  be  obtained 
from  human  credulity,  a  swarm  of  charlatans  sprang 
up  in  every  commimity, — prototypes  of  the  impostors 
who  infested  the  society  of  Europe  during  the  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  centuries.  Among  these  the  Jews 
attained  an  unenviable  notoriety,  a  reputation  des- 
tined in  subsequent  ages  to  produce  most  deplorable 
consequences.  Even  under  the  Pharaohs,  Hebrew 
astuteness  had  succeeded  in  penetrating  the  well- 
guarded  arcana  of  the  Egyptian  priesthood.  It  was 
mainly  through  their  traditional  avarice  that  the  pre- 
cepts and  formulas  of  the  Sacred  Art,  divulged  to 
the  Greeks  and  afterwards  to  the  Arabs,  became  the 
property  of  mediaeval  Europe.  In  Mohammedan 
Spain  the  Jews  excelled  in  this  unpopular  but  lucra- 
tive profession,  as  they  did  in  every  pursuit  requiring 
intelligence,  energy,  craft,  and  skill.  From  this  con- 
fused medley  of  philosophy,  magic,  and  imposture 
were  unconsciously  obtained  results  of  superlative 
value  to  the  human  race.  The  adept,  poring  over 
his  retorts  and  crucibles  in  vaulted  chambers  far 
removed  from  inquisitive  eyes,  stumbled  upon  dis- 
coveries more  important  than  that  of  the  philosopher's 
stone.  In  attempts  to  accomplish  the  transmutation 
of  metals,  processes  were  invented  by  which  the  analy- 
sis, separation,  and  smelting  of  ores  were,  hundreds 


490  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

of  years  afterwards,  facilitated,  and  the  visionary  aim 
of  the  alchemist,  in  a  measure,  accomplished.  From 
tliese  secret  experiments  came  the  knowledge  of  the 
working  of  metals,  of  the  composition  of  alloys,  of 
the  fusing  of  glass,  of  the  application  of  enamels. 
Alchemy  was  thus  the  precursor  of  chemistry,  and, 
so  intimately  are  their  principles  and  relations  con- 
nected, that  it  is  impossible  to  determine  where  the 
false  science  terminates  and  where  the  true  science 
begins.  The  Hispano- Arabs  carried  the  operations 
of  both  to  a  point  not  hitherto  attained  by  the  ex- 
perimenters of  the  ancient  world.  While  they 
profited  largely  by  the  learning  of  the  East,  it  would 
be  unjust  to  deny  them  the  merit  of  conspicuous 
and  striking  originality.  They  practically  invented 
modem  chemistry.  Their  writers  describe  with  clear- 
ness and  precision  the  processes  of  crystallization, 
sublimation,  distillation,  filtration,  solution.  They 
introduced  nitric  and  sulphuric  acids,  those  powerful 
solvents,  without  whose  agency  chemical  combinations 
could  not  be  effected.  To  them  is  due  the  discovery 
of  alcohol,  muriate  of  ammonia,  potassa,  bichloride 
of  mercury,  nitrate  of  silver,  and  phosphorus.  The 
adaptation  of  these  substances  to  the  multifarious 
purposes  of  daily  existence  has  bestowed  upon  the 
inventor  almost  boundless  resources  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  industrial  arts,  and  has  provided  the  sur- 
geon with  efiicadous  means  of  alleviating  himian 
suffering.  The  use  of  caustics  and  acids  produced 
a  revolution  in  medicine,  and  the  skill  of  the  physi- 
cian, even  in  Christendom,  was  no  longer  classed  with 
the  exorcisms  of  the  necromancer  or  subordinated  to 
the  mummeries  of  the  priest.  The  Moslems  of  the 
Peninsula  were  aware  that  a  calcined  metal  gains 
instead  of  loses  weight,  a  fact  whose  knowledge 
foreshadows  an  acquaintance  with  gases  and  the 
discovery  of  oxygen;    nor  were  they  ignorant  of 


Moorish  Empibe  IN  EuBOFE  491 

the  existence  and  the  properties  of  hydrogen.  Pro- 
cesses for  the  oxidation  of  metals  and  for  the  gen- 
eration of  gases  are  first  mentioned  by  Djabar-al- 
Kufi,  or  Geber,  whose  personal  history  is  unknown, 
and  who  is  often  conf omided  with  the  mathematician, 
Djabar-Ibn-Aflah,  of  Spain.  The  greatest  Arabian 
chemist  of  any  age,  his  abilities  have  been  recognized 
and  his  name  has  been  mentioned  with  respect  by 
every  investigator  of  the  exact  and  experimental 
sciences  down  to  the  present  day.  It  has  been  well 
said  that  he  bears  the  same  relation  to  chemistry 
that  Hippocrates  does  to  medicine.  His  writings 
— calm,  judicious,  eminently  logical — are  not  ob- 
scured or  disfigured  by  the  absurdity  and  charla- 
tanism of  the  epoch.  Aside  from  his  reference  to 
the  generation  of  gases  by  heat,  and  the  radical 
alterations  undergone  by  the  substances  from  which 
they  are  derived,  his  fame  would  have  been  per- 
manently established  by  his  discovery  of  nitric  acid 
and  aqua  regia,  products  of  the  laboratory  not  pre- 
viously described  by  any  author.  Thus  the  philo- 
sophical methods  of  the  Spanish  Moslems  gradually 
developed  the  visionary  operations  of  alchemy  into 
the  science  of  chemistry.  To  the  latter,  however,  still 
clung  numerous  indications  of  an  origin  fraught  with 
imposture.  Important  experiments  were  deferred 
until  the  planetary  influences  were  declared  to  be  au- 
spicious. The  elixir  of  life  was  sought  for  with  un- 
diminished ardor.  Monarchs  were  still  deluded  and 
plimdered  by  means  of  fallacious  promises  of  wealth 
to  be  obtained  by  the  transmutation  of  metals.  But, 
in  many  respects,  notable  changes  were  discernible, 
harbingers  of  incalculable  benefit  to  both  the  physical 
and  intellectual  condition  of  humanity.  Then  was 
first  effected  the  permanent  separation  between  ex- 
perimental science  and  religious  mysticism,  a  union 
fatal  to  mental  development  and  to  the  arts  of  dvili- 


4BS  KsfttxAX  OB  xat 

zation.  From  the  earliest  times»  every  important  vn^ 
dertaking  had  been  invested  with  a  sacred  character, 
and  supplemented  with  ceremonies  adopted  to  avoid 
publicity  and  to  enhance  its  mysterious  significance. 
It  was  no  longer  accounted  sacrilege  to  explain  the 
secrets  of  nature  or  necessary  to  enshroud  the  dis- 
coveries of  the  philosopher  with  the  terms  of  an  alle- 
gorical jargon.  The  scientific  lectures  of  the  Moorish 
universities  of  Spain  were  open  to  all  students;  the 
analyses  of  the  laboratory  were  daily  performed  in 
the  presence  of  thousands.  Familiarity  with  its 
operations,  experience  of  its  advantageous  applica- 
tion, diminished  in  time  the  suspicion  with  v^ch 
dhemistry  was  viewed  by  the  populace.  That  science^ 
necessarUy  slow  in  its  development,  originally  based 
upon  erroneous  principles,  profiting  by  the  opportuni- 
ties of  accidental  discovery,  retarded  by  innumerable 
failures,  hated  by  the  priesthood,  feared  by  the  igno- 
rant, classed  as  diabolical  by  the  superstitious,  was  far 
from  possessing  the  capability  for  progressive  ad- 
vancement and  permanence  of  which  mathematics  was 
susceptible.  Although  practically  its  inventors,  the 
Arabs  paid  more  attention  to  the  adaptation  of  its 
discovery  to  medicine  than  to  the  improvement  of  its 
processes  or  the  purification  of  its  products.  This 
predilection  induced  them  to  separate  pharmacy  from 
chemistry  as  well  as  from  medicine,  thus  creating  a 
new  and  most  important  branch  of  science,  of  uni- 
versal application  and  of  practical  benefit. 

Europe  is  indebted  to  tihe  Moslems  of  Spain  and 
Sicily  for  the  introduction  of  such  drugs  as  nux 
vomica,  cassia,  croton,  tamarind,  myrrh,  sandal, 
cubebs,  ergot,  senna,  rhubarb,  and  camphor;  for  such 
spices  as  cloves,  nutmeg,  ginger,  and  cinnamon;  for 
such  compoimds  as  juleps,  elixirs,  syrups,  and  elec- 
tuaries, still  known  to  commerce  by  their  Arabic 
names.    Under  the  khalifs,  pharmacies  were  estab* 


Moorish  Empibs  m  Euaofe  498 

lished  in  all  the  principal  towns  of  the  empire, 
subordinated  to  great  central  depots  at  Toledo  and 
Cordova.  These  were  placed  under  government  su- 
pervision, were  visited  by  inspectors,  and  their  owners 
held  accountable  for  the  purity  of  their  commodities 
and  the  methods  of  their  preparation*  In  Sicily  the 
laws  were  even  more  stringent:  every  dispenser  of 
drugs  was  subjected  to  a  rigid  examination  as  to  his 
qualifications,  and  the  professional  oath  of  the  physi- 
cian required  him  to  denounce  to  the  proper  authori- 
ties any  pharmacist  whose  wares  were  iuf  erior  in 
quality  to  the  regular  standard.  In  addition  to  these 
salutary  precautions  against  dishonesty  and  fraud,  a 
scale  of  prices,  publicly  displayed,  prevented  extor- 
tion; and  violation  of  the  law  subjected  the« offender 
to  serious  penalties.  These  regulations,  adopted  in 
the  thirteenth  century  by  the  Emperor  Frederick  II., 
contributed  greatly  to  the  success  attained  by  the 
medical  schools  of  Salerno  and  Naples,  and  made 
Sicily  the  most  famous  market  for  medicaments  in  the 
world. 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  the  science  of 
the  Saracens  was  largely  diffused  among  the  nations 
of  Northern  Europe  through  the  agency  of  the  ec- 
clesiastical order,  to  whose  faith,  organization,  and 
traditions  it  had  always  evinced  an  implacable  hostility. 
The  general  dearth  of  educational  facilities  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  monopoly  by  the  clergy  of  such 
learning  as  existed,  and  the  fact  that,  among  the  lat- 
ter, would  be  f  oimd,  sooner  or  later,  superior  minds 
dissatisfied  with  the  ignorance  and  the  absurdities  of 
the  Fathers,  were  conditions  that  inevitably  tended  to 
this  result  despite  the  anathemas  of  pontifi^s  and  the 
decrees  of  synods.  Many  of  these  umovators  came 
from  the  monastic  orders.  It  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  both  Savonarola  and  Bruno  were  Dominicans. 
For  more  than  a  century  there  emanated  from  Toledo 


494  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

translations  into  Latin  of  classical  works  that  had 
long  before  been  rendered  from  Greek  into  Arabic* 
The  pioneer  of  this  intellectual  movement  was  Arch- 
bishop Raymond,  a  Frenchman.  His  example  was 
followed  by  Herman  of  Dalmatia,  Michael  Scott, 
and  John  of  Seville.  The  three  greatest  Christian 
disseminators  of  the  science  derived  from  the  Moors, 
however,  were  Albertus  Magnus,  Bishop  of  Ratisbon; 
Robert  Grossetete,  Bishop  of  Lincoln;  and  Roger 
Bacon,  professor  in  the  University  of  Oxford,  all  of 
the  thirteenth  century.  The  first  is  popularly  known 
to  posterity  as  an  alchemist  and  a  magician.  He  was, 
besides,  a  man  of  extensive  knowledge,  and  a  writer 
of  voluminous  treatises  on  theology,  philosophy, 
alchemy,,  and  chemistry.  He  described  successfully 
the  action  of  acids,  the  character  of  alkalies,  the  forms 
and  alloys  of  metals.  The  method  used  to-day  in  the 
manufacture  of  caustic  potash  is  identical  with  the 
one  he  recommends.  He  was  the  first  to  prove  by 
sublimation  that  cinnabar  was  a  compound  of  sulphur 
and  mercury.  He  understood  perfectly  the  prepara- 
tion of  acetate  of  copper,  of  arsenic,  of  oxide  of  lead. 
The  process  of  refining  metals  was  also  familiar  to 
him.  He  gives  the  composition  of  gunpowder, — ^an 
invention  also  attributed  to  Friar  Bacon,  but  unques- 
tionably due  to  the  Arabs.  The  idle  legends  attaching 
to  his  name,  which  have  ascribed  to  him  supernatural 
powers  derived  from  an  intercourse  with  demons,  are 
a  part  of  the  homage  that  mediseval  credulity  was 
accustomed  to  pay  to  superior  intelligence.  His  life, 
devoted  to  science,  was  as  exemplary  in  its  character, 
in  an  age  of  ecclesiastical  corruption,  as  his  talents 
were  great  and  his  deeds  meritorious.  His  mathe- 
matical knowledge  and  his  mechanical  skill  were  the 
marvel  of  his  contemporaries.  The  curious  automa- 
ton that  he  constructed,  which  could  open  doors  and 
utter  guttural  sounds,  was  broken  to  pieces  by  St. 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  495 

Thomas  Aquinas,  who  had  previously  satisfied  him^ 
self  of  its  magical  origin  and  diabolical  character. 

Robert  Grossetete,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  eminent 
alike  in  scientific  attainments  and  theological  con- 
troversy, is  one  of  the  prominent  and  interesting 
characters  of  English  mediaeval  history.  An  ac- 
complished scholar,  he  was  profoundly  versed  in  all 
the  learning  of  his  time.  Anticipating  Wyclif  by 
more  than  a  century,  he  was  not  afraid  to  criticise 
publicly  the  abuses  of  the  Papacy,  to  defy  its  man- 
dates, and  to  advocate  the  exercise  of  individual  judg- 
ment in  ecclesiastical  matters.  In  these  daring  inno- 
vations we  obtain  the  first  glimpse  of  the  audacious 
spirit  which  animated  the  f  oimders  of  the  English 
Reformation.  He  resisted  successfully  the  presen- 
tation of  Italian  prelates  to  the  vacant  benefices  of 
England,  a  prerogative  hitherto  exercised  by  the  See 
of  Rome,  almost  without  remonstrance.  He  elevated 
the  standard  of  scholarship  at  Oxford  by  introducing 
the  methods  of  examination  which  obtained  in  the 
University  of  Paris,  at  that  time  the  first  institution 
of  learning  in  Christian  Europe.  Although  of  dis- 
tinguished rank  in  the  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy,  the 
unconcealed  exultation  of  the  Pope  at  his  decease  is 
A  suggestive  indication  of  the  broadness  of  his  views, 
and  of  the  danger  to  the  cause  of  ecclesiastical  su- 
premacy incurred  by  the  extent  of  his  knowledge,  the 
boldness  of  his  sentiments,  and  the  undiecked  propa- 
gation of  his  heretical  doctrines. 

But  the  greatest  of  this  trio  of  illustrious  names,  in 
both  renown  and  influence,  is  that  of  Roger  Bacon. 
Bom  in  1214,  he  was  early  distinguished  for  his  ex- 
traordinary abilities.  He  studied  at  Oxford  and 
Paris,  mastered  without  difficulty  the  sciences  as 
taught  at  those  two  universities,  and,  unfortunately 
for  himself,  adopted  the  habit  of  the  Franciscan 
Order.    His  inclinations,  little  in  accordance  with  the 


496  HlSTQET  07  THE 

maxims  of  his  profession,  impelled  him  to  the  investi- 
gation of  natural  phenomena.  He  seems  to  have  had 
well-defined  notions  of  many  practical  devices  which 
have  contributed  largely  to  the  triumphs  of  modem 
civilization.  He  regarded  experiment  and  demon- 
stration as  the  only  rational  method  of  arriving  at 
philosophical  truth.  A  mind  endowed  with  remark- 
able versatility,  a  spirit  of  indomitable  perseverance, 
acquired  for  him  an  acquaintance  with  languages  un- 
exampled in  his  age.  In  addition  to  being  thorou^y 
conversant  with  the  classics,  Hebrew  and  Arabic, 
generally  imknown  in  the  thirteenth  century  except 
to  the  Jew  and  the  Saracen,  were  as  familiar  to  Bacon 
as  the  accents  of  his  mother  tongue.  It  is  said  that 
he  devoted  forty  consecutive  years  to  the  study  of 
science.  He  expended  for  rare  books  and  for  the 
apparatus  necessary  for  its  researches  the  sum  of  two 
thousand  pounds  sterling,  an  amount  corresponding 
to  seventy-five  thousand  dollars  of  our  money.  In 
his  writings,  he  especialUy  recommends  the  study  of 
mathematics  as  the  most  potent  instrument  of  mental 
culture,  the  only  key  which  can  unlock  the  secrets  of 
Nature.  His  erudition  embraced  the  most  recondite 
branches  of  learning,  and  some  of  his  suggestions 
viewed  in  connection  with  subsequent  discoveries  al- 
most seem  prompted  by  supernatural  inspiration.  He 
recognized  the  necessity  for  the  reform  of  the  calen- 
dar, and  applied  to  Pope  Clement  IV.  for  permission 
to  rectify  its  errors,  but  the  latter  refused.  He  de- 
clared a  thorough  knowledge  of  optics  to  be  indis- 
pensable for  the  construction  of  astronomical  instru- 
ments. After  the  perusal  of  his  writings,  a  doubt 
can  hardly  be  entertained  that  he  was  the  inventor 
of  spectacles, — ^whose  idea  he  obtained  from  Al- 
Hazen, — and  that  he  also  understood  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  lenses  in  the  telescope.  He  explained 
the  phenomena  of  the  rainbow  as  due  to  refrac- 


Moorish  Empibx  m  Eubofe  497 

tion.  The  power  of  magnif ying-glasses  he  correctly 
states  to  vary  with  the  size  of  the  angle  under  which 
Ihe  object  is  seen.  He  gives  the  ingredients  and 
describes  the  effects  of  gunpowder,  a  discovery  in 
whidi  he  was,  however,  anticipated  by  Albertus 
Magnus.  He  discourses  on  the  possibilities  of  in- 
ventions similar  to  the  steam-engine,  the  balloon, 
and  the  application  of  electricity,  obscure,  it  is  true, 
yet  with  an  accuracy  of  perception  that  seems  incredi- 
ble, and  which  cannot  be  questioned  without  denying 
the  authenticity  of  his  works.  He  apparently  un- 
derstood the  theory  of  the  suspension-bridge.  He 
refers  to  the  inflammable  product  obtained  by  the 
sublimation  of  organic  matter,  probably  an  allusion 
to  hydrogen.  The  properties  of  carbonic  acid  gas, 
unfavorable  to  combustion  and  fatal  to  animal  life, 
he  mentions  in  terms  whose  meaning  cannot  be  mis- 
understood. He  entertained  the  ancient  idea  of  the 
compound  nature  of  metals,  and  declares  that,  in  order 
to  effect  their  transmutation,  a  reduction  to  their  pri- 
mary elements  is  an  essential  requisite  to  success.  He 
explains  their  artificial  coloration,  a  trick  very  popular 
with  diarlatans,  who  passed  off  inferior  metals  sub- 
jected to  processes  that  changed  their  appearance  for 
silver  and  gold.  The  latter  metal  he  asserts  to  be 
perfect,  because  in  its  formation  the  operations  of 
countless  ages  have  been  completed,  and  similar  pro- 
cesses must  be  devised  by  man  before  he  can  hope  to 
enter  into  competition  with  Nature.  In  addition  to 
his  proficiency  in  mathematics  and  chemistry.  Bacon 
was  a  learned  astronomer  and  a  physician.  He  also 
constructed  automatons,  which  brought  down  upon 
his  head  the  censures  of  the  Chiu-ch  and  the  enmity 
of  the  ignorant.  Accused  of  magic,  although  he 
wrote  a  treatise  against  it,  fanaticism  and  hatred  sen- 
tenced him  to  imprisonment  and  anathematized  his 
works.    After  ten  years  of  confinement  in  a  dungeon. 

Vol.  III.— S9 


498  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

he  was  liberated,  only  to  die  with  the  first  return  of 
the  blessings  of  freedom.  The  intolerant  spirit  of  the 
age  that  condemned  him  is  epitomized  in  a  sentence 
taken  from  a  chapter  in  which  he  deplores  the  irra- 
tional bigotry  that  obstructs  the  progress  of  scien- 
tific investigation,  "Animus  ignorans  veritatem  sus- 
tinere  non  potest."  The  versatility  of  his  talents  was 
only  surpassed  by  the  audacity  with  which  he  at- 
tacked and  the  success  with  which  he  controverted 
the  absurd  prejudices  of  his  epoch.  His  name,  sy- 
nonymous with  progress,  stands  forth  in  prominent 
contrast  with  the  intellectual  abasement  and  unques- 
tioning credulity  with  which  he  was  surrounded.  His 
.prophetic  foresight,  while  it  provoked  the  ridicule  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  commands  alike  the  respect 
and  astonishment  of  Oiu*s.  Like  every  innovator,  he 
experienced  the  penalties  of  superior  genius, — ^per- 
secution, contumely,  deprivation  of  liberty.  Among 
the  representative  scholars  of  the  Middle  Ages,  he  de- 
serves pre-eminent  celebrity  as  a  bold  and  original 
exponent  of  experimental  philosophy  and  scientific 
thought. 

Although  unappreciated  by  his  contemporaries, 
Roger  Bacon  found  a  host  of  imitators  during  the 
next  three  centuries.  Members  of  every  rank  and 
profession  embraced  the  study  of  alchemy.  The  cleri- 
cal order  included  the  larger  number;  the  secrecy  of 
the  cloister  was  made  subservient  to  the  purposes  of 
magic;  and  the  formulas  of  the  laboratory  claimed 
far  more  attention  than  the  accomplishment  of  pen- 
ance or  the  ceremonies  of  devotion.  It  was  even 
alleged  that  Pope  John  XXII.  found  time  at  Avig- 
non to  engage  in  a  fruitless  search  for  the  philoso- 
pher's stone.  From  these  illusory  occupations  were, 
as  already  remarked,  occasionally  derived  discoveries 
of  great  practical  value.  The  benefits  resulting  from 
the  exercise  of  the  spirit  of  inquiry  and  the  vigorous 


MooEiSH  Empire  in  Eubofe  499 

employment  of  the  intellectual  faculties  were  of  even 
greater  consequence  to  the  growth  of  civilization  and 
the  future  welfare  of  mankind. 

In  no  department  of  scientific  investigation  was  the 
genius  of  Arabian  culture  more  signally  displayed 
than  in  the  noble  profession  of  medicine.  In  ancient 
Arabia,  disease  was  supposed  to  be  an  indication  of 
the  anger  of  God,  which  it  was  the  peculiar  province 
of  the  sorcerer  to  remove.  The  erroneous  ideas  of 
morbific  conditions  common  to  nations  in  their  intel- 
lectual infancy,  among  the  primitive  Arabs,  conspicu- 
ous for  their  ignorance,  were  even  more  pronounced 
than  was  characteristic  of  other  races  not  less  barbar- 
ous. It  was  a  long  step  from  the  fetichism  of  the 
Desert  to  the  sacrificial  ceremonies  of  Rome  and  the 
Asclepiads  of  Greece,  yet  all  were  of  a  similar  char- 
acter, though  the  latter  represented  the  origin  of  the 
medical  science  of  antiquity.  Temperance  was  at 
once  the  precaution  and  the  remedy  of  the  abstemious 
Bedouin.  Mohanmied  diligently  inculcated  the  doc- 
trine that  the  stomach  was  the  seat  of  all  diseases, 
and  fasting  their  cure. 

The  beneficent  art  which  has  for  its  object  the  alle- 
viation of  human  suffering  was  in  the  seventh  century 
degraded  to  the  vilest  purposes  of  the  priest  and  the 
charlatan.  The  writings  of  the  celebrated  Greek 
practitioners,  lost  in  the  universal  destruction  of 
learning  consequent  upon  barbarian  supremacy  or 
hidden  in  the  seclusion  of  the  cloister,  had  been  for- 
gotten. The  reputation  of  the  medical  school  of 
Alexandria,  whose  methods  had  wrought  such  mira- 
cles in  the  advancement  of  science,  was,  in  the  minds 
of  the  more  intelligent,  but  an  indistinct  and  doubt- 
ful tradition;  to  the  ignorant  it  was  wholly  imknown. 
Then,  and  for  centuries  afterwards,  throughout 
Christendom,  medicine  was  closely  allied  with  sorcery 
and  imposture,  partly  astrological,  partly  mystical. 


500  HnrroRY  ov  tht 

but  never  scientific.  The  supernatural  character  with 
widdi  ecclesiastical  shrewdness  and  cunning  had  in- 
vested it, — ^the  accepted  principle  that  disease  was 
punishment  inflicted  for  the  commission  of  sin, — ^a 
principle  which,  strange  to  say,  has  still  it»  advocates 
even  in  our  enlightened  age, — ^rendered  all  progress 
impossible.  Maladies  were  largely  attributed  to  the 
influence  of  spirits  or  to  the  possession  of  devils,  to 
be  exorcised  by  prayer,  holy  water,  the  application  of 
relics,  the  invocation  of  saints.  The  superstitions  in- 
herited from  Pagan  antiquity,  and  of  incalculable 
potency  in  their  action  upon  the  minds  of  the  multi- 
tude, were  a  source  of  great  revenue  to  the  clergy. 
Among  the  vast  number  of  holy  men  whose  names 
fill  the  pages  of  the  Roman  Catholic  calendar  there 
were  many  individuals  whose  intercession  was  con- 
sidered especially  efiicadous  in  the  treatmait  of  cer- 
tain diseases.  The  policy  of  the  Church,  which  lost 
no  opportimity  of  impressing  the  fancy  of  its  vo- 
taries, even  went  so  far  as  to  expel  from  the  con- 
stellations of  the  zodiac  the  familiar  forms  of  the 
ancients,  and  to  substitute  in  their  stead  represen- 
tations of  cenobites  and  martyrs,  the  piety  of  whose 
lives,  often  of  questionable  authenticity,  had  obtained 
for  them  the  honor  of  canonization.  The  identifica- 
tion of  the  treatment  of  disease  with  religious  cere- 
monial, and  indirectly  with  celestial  interference, 
conferred  upon  the  priesthood  a  new  and  formid- 
able weapon  of  spiritual  power.  Their  influence, 
already  great  at  the  bedside  of  the  sick  and  the 
dying,  soon  became  paramount.  To  the  weight  which 
their  ecclesiastical  f  imctions  imposed,  they  added  the 
dictatorial  manner  which  is  essential  to  the  successful 
ministrations  of  the  physician.  They  collected  enor- 
mous fees.  They  disposed  of  estates.  Often,  in  the 
very  presence  of  death,  they  engaged  in  unseemly 
disputes  over  the  division  of  the  spoiL    They  forced 


MooBisK  Empibb  in  Eubofe  501 

the  afflicted  to  the  most  humiliating  compliances. 
Profoundly  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  disease  and 
its  cure,  they  supplied  their  glaring  deficiencies  hy  the 
employment  of  every  resource  of  imposture  known 
to  their  calling.  By  aspersions  and  the  exhihition  of 
the  Host  they  cast  out  demons.  They  removed  pain 
with  the  sovereign  virtues  of  relics.  Chronic  affec- 
tions were  treated  by  protracted  prayer  and  vicarious 
penance.  Pilgrimages  to  sacred  localities,  supple- 
mented by  frequent  and  generous  contributions,  were 
also  of  notable  efficacy.  The  waters  of  certain  wells 
and  springs  under  the  patronage  of  a  saint,  and  which 
had  been  the  scenes  of  well-attested  miracles,  were 
classed  among  the  most  popular  therapeutic  agents. 
The  gift  of  healing,  especially  efficacious  in  cases  of 
goitre  and  scrofula,  with  which  royal  personages  were 
supposed  to  be  endowed,  was  another  of  the  delusions 
in  which  mediaeval  times  were  so  remarkably  prolific. 
This  singular  idea,  probably  of  British  origin,  can 
be  traced  to  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  and 
was  not  discarded  until  the  accession  of  the  House 
of  Brunswick.  Its  institution  was  undoubtedly  ec- 
clesiastical; the  repetition  of  a  religious  formula  ac- 
companied the  touch  of  the  sovereign;  and  the  prac- 
tice of  the  ceremony  at  Pentecost  was  always  a  source 
of  much  edification  to  the  multitude,  and  of  substan- 
tial profit  to  the  religious  establishment  under  whose 
auspices  it  happened  to  be  conducted. 

Side  by  side  with  clerical  impostors,  another  class 
of  practitioners,  equally  ignorant  and  scarcely  less 
dangerous,  preyed  upon  the  superstitious  and  credu- 
lous of  mediseval  society.  These  were  the  charlatans 
who  posed  as  astrologers,  aldiemists,  magicians. 
Their  encroachments  upon  the  territory  of  the 
Church,  and  the  suspicious  methods  they  employed, 
necessitated  a  certain  degree  of  concealment  and 
secrecy,  but  their  haunts  were  well  known  to  their 


502  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

victims.  They  professed  to  consult  the  appearance 
of  the  heavens,  the  motions  of  the  planets,  the  recm:- 
rence  of  eclipses,  the  apparition  of  comets  and 
meteors,  in  the  compounding  of  medicines  and  the 
treatment  of  distempers.  Celestial  phenomena  were 
thus  regarded  as  of  the  highest  importance  in  the 
determination  of  symptoms  and  the  administration 
of  remedies.  The  curative  virtues  of  plants  were 
entirely  dependent  on  the  position  of  the  star  imder 
which  they  were  gathered.  A  correspondence  of 
qualities  was  presumed  to  exist  between  objects  hav- 
ing the  same  color  or  form,  an  idea  possibly  as  old 
as  man  himself.  Hence  were  derived  the  imaginary 
aphrodisiacal  virtues  of  the  mandrake,  and  the  al- 
leged properties  of  red  and  white  substances  as  calori- 
f acients  and  refrigerants.  The  occupations  of  Uiese 
pretenders,  usually  confined  to  the  fleecing  of  their 
dupes,  were,  however,  not  always  so  innocuous.  They 
were  eminently  skilled  in  the  composition  of  love- 
philters  and  poisons,  whose  secret  administration  is 
believed  to  have  more  than  once  dhianged  the  succes- 
sion of  certain  of  the  royal  houses  of  Europe.  The 
criminal  history  of  the  Middle  Ages  is  not  more  re- 
markable for  the  nefarious  deeds  of  these  fraudulent 
practitioners  than  for  the  immunity  which  the  posses- 
sion of  dangerous  secrets  enabled  them  to  enjoy. 

To  the  ministrations  of  these  two  classes — ^that  of 
the  ecclesiastic  and  that  of  the  charlatan — ^was  the 
health  of  Christian  Europe  thus  committed  for  many 
centuries.  A  striking  similarity  characterized  the  pro- 
ceedings of  both.  Each  employed  mimtmieries,  exor- 
cisms, incantations.  Each  professed  to  believe  in  the 
efiicacy  of  amulets.  One  invoked  the  intercession  of 
the  saints;  the  other  was  credited  with  holding  nightly 
intercourse  with  the  spirits  of  the  infernal  world. 
Both,  by  the  alleged  exercise  of  supernatural  afiilia- 
tion,  wielded  great  power,  and  lived  in  luxury  at  the 


Moorish  Empibe  m  Eubofe  508 

expense  of  those  whom  ihey  habitually  deluded. 
While  each  considered  the  other  as  encroadiing  on  his 
peculiar  domain  and  an  object  of  suspicion,  a  com- 
munity of  sentiment  between  them  generally  pre- 
vented any  serious  outbreak  of  hostility.  The  favor 
and  protection  of  the  prince  was  equaDy  accorded  to 
these  two  appendages  of  the  court  One  was  the 
keeper  of  the  royal  conscience;  the  other  was  valued 
as  an  unscrupulous  and  ever  available  instrument  of 
secret  vengeance.  Both  at  times  exercised  the  im- 
portant functions  of  physician.  Unfortunate,  indeed, 
was  the  invalid  dependent  upon  such  inadequate  re- 
sources. For  him  there  was  no  prospect  of  substantial 
relief;  no  system  of  intelligent  treatment;  no  reme- 
dies but  incense,  relics,  and  the  mysterious  formulas 
of  imposture;  no  prophylactic  but  the  talisman;  no 
diagnosis  but  the  consultation  of  the  stars;  no  pre- 
scription but  the  Pater  and  the  Ave.  In  the  estima- 
tion of  the  populace,  the  calling  of  the  physician  was 
identical  with  that  of  the  necromancer.  In  the  advice 
of  the  priest  the  greater  confidence  was  reposed,  his 
connection  with  the  Church  investing  his  opinions  with 
a  divine,  even  an  infallible,  sanction.  When  failure 
resulted,  as  was  often  the  case,  it  was  not  attributed 
to  inexperience  and  ignorance,  but  to  neglect  to  pro- 
pitiate the  saints  and  the  Virgin.  The  commonest 
rules  of  hygiene,  upon  which  are  absolutely  depend- 
ent the  health  of  communities,  were  habituaUy  ig- 
nored. The  streets  were  open  sewers.  The  coiui;- 
yards  steamed  with  miasmatic  vapors  engendered  by 
decaying  garbage.  Into  most  houses  the  piuif ying 
rays  of  the  sun  could  never  penetrate.  Floors  and 
walls  alike  were  grimy  with  filth.  Linen  and  cotton 
garments  worn  next  the  skin,  and  which  contribute 
so  much  to  personal  comfort  and  cleanliness,  were 
unknown;  the  Arabs,  by  whom  they  were  invented, 
had  not  yet  introduced  them  to  the  knowledge  of  Eu- 


504  History  of  thb 

rope.  The  supply  of  water,  everywhere  contami* 
nated,  became  a  prolific  source  of  infection.  Public 
baths  did  not  exist;  a  profane  luxury  of  the  Pagan 
and  the  Saracen,  their  use  was  contrary  to  the  tradi- 
tions of  Christianity;  the  Gospels  contain  no  general 
precepts  for  ablution;  and  its  practice  was  abhorrent 
to  the  meditative  simplicity  of  clerical  and  monastic 
life.  The  universal  existence  of  these  pathogenic 
conditions  is  alone  sufficient  to  account  for  the  rapid 
diffusion  and  frightful  mortality  of  contagious  dis- 
eases. Leprosy  had  under  the  filthy  habits  and  pro- 
miscuous intercourse  of  the  populations  of  the 
Middle  Ages  assumed  a  character  of  extraordinary 
virulence.  France,  at  that  time  certainly  not  the  least 
civilized  country  of  Europe,  furnishes  a  suggestive 
instance  of  the  prevalence  and  disastrous  effects  of 
this  incurable  disorder.  From  the  eleventh  to  the 
f  oiuiieenth  century,  there  was  not  a  village — scarcely 
a  hamlet — ^without  its  kzar-house;  the  streets  of  great 
cities  swarmed  with  leprous  beggars  in  every  stage 
of  loathsome  deformity;  and  in  1250  there  were 
known  to  be  two  thousand  leper-asyltims  in  that  king- 
dom,— ^there  were  nineteen  thousand  in  Europe.  The 
result  of  the  disregard  of  sanitary  precautions,  and 
the  deplorable  lack  of  medical  knowledge,  is  also 
established  by  the  fatality  of  great  epidemics,  pre- 
viously mentioned.  Sudi  was  the  awful  penalty 
entailed  by  hatred  of  learning,  personal  neglect>  and 
public  indifference  to  the  laws  of  health,  conditions 
sedulously  maintained  by  the  policy  of  the  papal 
system,  whose  ministers  collected  immense  revenues 
from  shrines,  relics,  amulets,  and  the  endless  para- 
jdiemalia  of  superstition,  and  discouraged,  by  all  the 
insidious  arts  of  their  profession,  every  rational 
method  for  the  prevention  and  treatment  of  disease. 
In  the  Orient,  on  the  other  hand,  great  progress 
had  early  been  made  in  the  various  loandxes  of  tibe 


MooBiSH  Empisb  in  Eubope  505 

healing  art.  The  number  of  Arab  phyadans  was 
prodigious.  An  entire  volume  of  the  biographical 
work  of  Abu-Osaibah  is  taken  up  with  their  names. 
In  the  city  of  Bagdad,  at  one  time  during  the  ekventh 
century,  there  were  nearly  nine  hundred.  The  Nes- 
torian  school  of  Djondisabour  had  already,  in  the 
sixth  century,  sent  forth  many  eminent  practitioners. 
Some  of  these,  in  search  of  more  extensive  knowledge, 
travelled  in  India;  at  least  one  of  them,  Harets-Ibn* 
Kdadah,  an  Arab,  established  himself  at  Mecca. 
From  him  Mohammed,  whd  was  his  friend,  obtained 
something  more  than  the  rudiments  of  medicine,  an 
accomplishment  whidi  contributed  greatly  to  his  suc- 
cess. The  Prophet  attended  the  sick,  gave  consulta- 
tions, and  imparted  his  learning  to  his  wives.  He 
recognized  the  paramount  importance  of  hygiene,  and 
inculcated  its  maxims  upon  every  occasion.  '*6od 
has  not  caused  a  single  disease  to  descend  upon  men 
without  providing  a  remedy,'*  "  Diet  is  the  principle 
of  cure,  and  intemperance  the  source  of  all  physical 
ills,"  were  some  of  the  aphoristical  sayings  idiose 
truth  he  constantly  impressed  upon  his  followers. 
The  r«iowned  Khalif  Al-Mamun  was  the  first  Mos- 
lem prince  to  impart  a  decided  impulse  to  the  study 
of  scientific  medicine.  To  Bagdad,  his  capital,  whidi 
he  had  named  the  City  of  Peace,  he  attracted,  by  the 
promise  of  magnificent  rewards,  the  diief  professors 
of  the  medical  sdiool  of  Djondisabour.  The  fact  that 
they  were  Christians  was  in  the  eyes  of  that  great 
monarch  no  unpediment  to  then-  employment  or  pro- 
motion. Under  their  intelligent  direction  colleges 
and  dispensaries  were  established.  The  first  hospital 
of  whidi  history  makes  mention  was  founded  at  Bag- 
dad. The  world  was  diligently  explored  for  medical 
treatises  of  every  description.  The  Greek  authors 
were  rendered  into  Arabic  by  a  body  of  translators 
especially  employed  for  that  purpose.    The  vast  im- 


506  HiSTOSY  OF  THB 

portance  of  this  intellectual  movement,  guided  by  the 
spirit  of  scientific  inquiry  whose  conclusions  were 
based  on  results  obtained  by  observation  and  experi- 
ment, is  disclosed  by  the  great  minds  it  produced  and 
through  the  influence  it  exerted  on  other  nations. 

In  medicine,  as  in  all  other  sciences,  the  Spanish 
Arabs  enjoyed  peculiar  advantages.  The  accumu- 
lated wisdom  of  the  Alexandrian  School  was  theirs 
by  right  of  conquest.  The  learning,  the  inventions, 
and  the  methods  of  the  great  colleges  of  Djondisa- 
bour,  of  Bagdad,  of  Cairo,  of  Damascus,  were  theirs 
by  appropriation  or  inheritance.  Many  of  the  most 
accomplished  scholars  of  those  institutions  established 
a  residence  in  the  Peninsula,  and  enriched  with  their 
knowledge  the  already  gigantic  stock  of  scientific 
facts,  the  result  of  years  of  study  and  experiment  by 
the  brightest  minds  in  the  most  highly  intellectual  and  ' 
cultivated  society  of  Europe.  Neither  national  nor 
religious  prejudice  proscribed  the  fruits  produced  by 
the  labors  of  the  philosophical  observer.  The  con- 
tributions of  the  skeptic,  the  Christian,  the  Jew,  and 
the  Worshipper  of  Fire  were  received  with  the  same 
respect  and  rewarded  with  the  same  liberality  as  were 
those  of  the  orthodox  Moslem.  The  enterprising  sur- 
geons and  pharmacists  of  Moorish  Spain  travelled, 
studied,  and  piu*sued  their  investigations  in  every 
country  which  promised  a  profitable  return  to  their 
industry  or  their  researches.  The  academies  of  the 
Peninsula  were  illumined  by  the  genius  and  the  eru- 
dition of  such  great  writers  and  operators  as  the 
Bakhtichous,  Masues,  and  Serapions,  the  Nestorian 
pioneers  of  medicine  and  surgery;  Honein-Ibn-Ishak, 
Albategnius,  Abu-Yusuf-al-Kendi,  Tsabit-Ibn-Kor- 
ra,  Ibn-Bothan,  Ibn-Sina,  Abu-Bekr-Mohammed,  of 
Persia;  Ibn-al-Heitsam,  Al-Hazen,  Abul-Mena-Ibn- 
Naso,  of  Egypt;  Ibn-al-Mathran,  Ibn-al-Dakhnar, 
Ibn-Khalifa,  Abd-al-Atif,  Djimal-al-Dire,  of  Syria; 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubope  507 

Ibn-al-Djezzar,  Constantine  Africanus,  and  Edrisi, 
of  Barbary.  These  names,  famous  in  the  annals  of 
the  profession,  and  gathered  from  every  quarter  of 
the  Mohanmiedan  world,  are  equalled  if  not  sur- 
passed in  renown  by  those  of  Moorish  Spain.  The 
schools  in  the  empire  of  Islam,  already  celebrated, 
were  also  rendered  doubly  illustrious  by  many  other 
distinguished  scholars  of  scarcely  inferior  ability, 
whose  talents  and  discoveries  produced  a  revolution 
in  the  practice  of  every  department  of  medical  sci- 
ence. All  of  the  institutions  where  it  was  taught  were 
not  public.  Many  were  established  by  practising 
physicians,  who  had  also  their  private  hospitals.  The 
sons  adopted  the  profession  of  their  fathers  for  many 
consecutive  generations,  and  added  to  the  learning 
obtained  by  example  and  experience  the  natural  ad- 
vantages derived  from  the  hereditary  transmission  of 
genius  and  skill. 

The  khalifs  often  attended  the  lectures  of  emi- 
nent practitioners,  and  always  bestowed  upon  them 
the  most  substantial  marks  of  their  favor.  Capable 
of  the  exercise  of  every  public  emplojnment,  the  court 
physician  was  often  raised  to  the  post  of  vizier. 
Many  accumulated  immense  fortunes.  Djabril-Ibn- 
Bakhtichou  left  ninety  million  drachmas;  Al-Mamum 
gave  Honein  for  every  volume  he  translated  from 
the  Greek  its  weight  in  gold. 

The  versatility  of  many  of  these  learned  men  is  one 
of  the  marvels  of  the  educational  system  under  which 
tiieir  talents  were  developed.  Their  medical  knowl- 
edge was  often  the  least  conspicuous  of  their  intel- 
lectual accomplishments.  They  were  famous  mathe- 
maticians, astronomers,  metaphysicians,  grammarians, 
botanists.  Some  left  hundreds  of  works  on  the  dif- 
ferent sciences.  Even  in  that  remote  age  there  were 
specialists  who  wrote  with  signal  ability  on  the  mor- 
bid anatomy  of  the  different  portions  of  the  body. 


508  HiSTOBT  OP  THB 

Affections  of  the  eye,  obstetrics,  eruptive  fevers,  were 
exhaustively  treated.  The  book  of  Rhazes  on  the 
diseases  of  children  is  the  first  on  that  topic  known 
to  exist*  Medical  encydopsedias  were  common.  The 
number  of  translators  produced  by  the  school  of  Bag- 
dad alone  exceeded  one  hundred.  The  multiplication 
of  copies  of  Greek  medical  and  philosophical  works 
by  tlids  means,  and  their  consequent  wide  distribu- 
tion, preserved  them  from  the  fate  encountered  by  so 
many  other  memorials  of  Attic  genius.  The  salutary 
example  of  the  Abbaside  khalif  s  was  not  lost  upon 
the  Moslem  princes  of  Syria  and  Egypt.  In  the 
polished  capitals  of  Damascus  and  Cairo  numbers  of 
splendidly  appointed  medical  institutions — colleges, 
hospitals,  dispensaries,  laboratories — ^arose.  The  ser- 
vices of  the  most  distinguished  physicians  were  gratui- 
tously rendered  to  the  inmates  of  the  hospitals.  The 
hygienic  arrangements  of  the  latter  were,  in  many 
respects,  superior  even  to  those  dictated  by  the  spirit 
of  modem  scientific  progress.  They  were  larger, 
better  arranged,  and  more  conmiodious.  Purity  of 
air  was  assured  by  a  system  of  thorough  ventilation. 
There  were  fountains  everywhere, — ^in  the  courts,  in 
the  halls,  in  the  gardens.  Wards  placed  under  the 
direction  of  competent  specialists  were  appointed  for 
the  treatment  and  study  of  every  disease.  Insane 
patients  were  prescribed  for  like  the  others,  .and  had 
their  attendants,  their  baths,  and  their  amusements. 
For  them,  as  well  as  for  the  unfortunate  victim  of 
insomnia  and  the  convalescent,  there  were  the  divert- 
ing mirth  of  the  story-teller  and  the  soothing  powers 
of  music.  When  a  patient  was  discharged  as  cured 
from  the  Moristan  of  Cairo,  founded  in  the  tenth 
century,  and  the  most  luxuriously  equipped  hospital 
of  ancient  or  modem  times, — ^where  cooling  waters 
rippled  by  the  bedside  of  the  sick,  and  their  senses 
were  refreshed  by  the  sight  and  odors  of  beds  of 


Moorish  Empisx  in  Eubofe  509 

flowers, — ^he  received  five  pieces  of  gold,  to  provide 
for  his  necessities  until  his  strength  was  completely 
restored.  These  institutions  were  supported  by  the 
government,  and  placed  under  the  supervision  of  the 
court  physician,  the  head  of  his  profession,  who  was 
held  to  a  strict  accountability  for  their  proper  man- 
agement. For  tiiis  important  and  responsible  em- 
ployment belief  in  Islamism  was  by  no  means 
essential;  honesty,  skill,  and  industry  were  the  sole 
recommendations  to  imperial  favor,  and  the  medical 
advisers  of  the  Successors  of  the  Prophet  were  fre- 
quently Christians  and  Jews.  In  all  hospitals  regis- 
ters of  cases  were  opened  and  preserved,  and  far  more 
importance  was  attached  to  the  observations  made  at 
the  bedside  of  the  patient  than  to  the  information 
obtained  by  the  perusal  of  books. 

The  fame  of  the  medical  colleges  of  the  Orient 
spread  rapidly  throughout  the  world,  and  attracted 
the  ambitious  of  every  creed, — Christian,  Hebrew, 
Mohammedan.  In  the  eleventh  century  there  were 
more  than  six  thousand  students  of  medicine  in  the 
sdiools  of  Bagdad.  The  methods  of  the  professors 
and  writers  who  directed  the  policy  of  these  institu- 
tions owed  their  efiicacy  and  success  to  their  severely 
practical  character.  No  course  of  treatment  was  ap- 
proved until  it  had  been  repeatedly  tested.  Rhazes 
boasted  that  his  knowledge  had  been  acquired  in  hos- 
pitals and  not  from  libraries.  It  was  the  leading 
principle  of  the  practice  of  Ibn-Zohr  that  the  re- 
sources of  nature,  if  properly  directed,  are  generally 
sufficient  to  cure  disease.  Abulcasis  insisted  that  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  anatomy  was  indispensable  to 
success  in  surgical  practice,  a  statement  which,  in  his 
day,  had  the  merit  of  novelty.  The  original  prin- 
ciples of  science  transmitted  from  the  great  Greek 
physicians  were  again  promulgated  for  the  benefit  of 
numkind,  after  having  been  divested  of  the  mass  of 


510  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

superstition  and  imposture  with  whidi  they  had  long 
been  encumbered.  Ahnost  every  disease  incident 
to  humanity  was  treated  by  the  Arab  practitioner. 
Ophthalmia,  endemic  in  coimtries  subjected  to  the 
incessant  glare  of  a  tropical  sun,  received  particular 
attention.  The  Moorish  surgeons  describe  eleven  dif- 
ferent operations  for  cataract.  Smallpox  and  leprosy 
were  the  subject  of  protracted  and  exhaustive  investi- 
gation. There  were  specialists  for  affections  of  the 
nerves  and  the  brain,  and  of  the  pectoral  organs;  for 
complaints  resulting  from  physical  excesses;  for  the 
various  forms  of  insanity.  Considerations  of  deli- 
cacy and  the  jealous  prejudice  resulting  from  the  life 
of  the  harem  debarred  the  physician  from  the  applica- 
tion of  the  principles  of  gynaecology,  and  the  practice 
of  obstetrics  was  relinquished  to  women.  Surgery, 
whose  practice  now  implies  the  possession  of  the  high- 
est degree  of  professional  skill,  was  for  ages  among 
the  Arabs  considered  of  inferior  importance,  and  was 
abandoned  to  barbers  and  charlatans.  The  Moham- 
medan doctrine  that  the  soul  remained  with  the  body 
for  a  certain  time  after  dissolution  was  a  serious  ob- 
stacle to  the  acquisition  of  anatomical  knowledge, 
vital  to  the  success  of  the  operator.  This  feeling  was 
intensified  by  an  idea  prevalent  among  the  rabble  that 
handling  a  corpse  was  a  source  of  frightful,  nay,  even 
of  ineffaceable,  pollution.  The  same  impediments  to 
the  study  of  anatomy  also  existed  in  Christian  Eu- 
rope under  the  rules  of  the  Church.  One- of  the  most 
heinous  offences  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.  was 
that  he  encouraged  dissections,  a  practice  which,  as 
it  violated  the  sacred  tabernacle  of  the  soul  and,  ac- 
cording to  ecclesiastical  precept,  might  cause  serious 
embarrassment  on  the  day  of  the  General  Resurrec- 
tion, had  been  rigidly  proscribed  by  the  policy  of 
Rome. 

The  Arabs  attached  the  greatest  importance  to  hy- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  511 

gienic  precautions  for  the  prevention  as  well  as  for 
the  cure  of  disease.  It  was  a  cardinal  principle  of 
their  pathology  that  overtaxing  the  digestive  organs 
was  the  cause  of  a  multitude  of  disorders.  The  ab- 
stemious and  temperate  habits  whidi  characterized  the 
life  of  the  Desert  were  impressively  inculcated  by 
the  Koran  and  the  entire  body  of  Moslem  tradition. 
Their  observance  was  constantly  suggested  by  the 
familiar  use  of  amusing  and  pertinent  aphorisms  and 
proverbial  phrases,  such,  for  instance,  as,  "  The  worst 
things  that  an  old  man  can  have  are  a  young  wife  and 
a  good  cook." 

The  science  of  medicine,  in  common  with  the  other 
branches  of  practical  knowledge  already  enumerated, 
was  introduced  into  Christendom  through  the  Mos- 
lem kingdoms  of  Southern  Europe.  The  Spanish 
and  Sicilian  Arabs  were  the  distributors  of  the  accu- 
mulated wisdom  of  the  East.  The  munificent  patron- 
age of  their  rulers,  the  enterprise  of  their  merchants, 
the  ambition  of  their  scholars,  enabled  them  to  profit 
by  the  literary  resources  and  invaluable  observations 
of  the  great  medical  schools  of  Bagdad,  Cairo,  and 
Damascus.  The  Continent  of  Rhazes,  the  Canon  of 
Avicenna,  the  Meliki  of  Ali-Ibn- Abbas,  each  a  vast 
compendiimi  of  scientific  information,  whose  princi- 
ples form  the  basis  of  all  modem  practice,  were  early 
familiar  to  the  Moorish  physicians  of  the  Peninsula. 
The  works  of  Al-Hazen  and  Ali-Ibn-Issa,  indispen- 
sable to  oculists,  were  used  by  the  students  of  Cor- 
dova even  before  their  adoption  by  the  colleges  of 
Teheran  and  Cairo.  Every  medical  treatise  of  im- 
portance was  to  be  found  in  the  libraries  of  the  khal- 
ifate.  Nor  were  the  eflPorts  of  the  Hispano-Arab 
practitioners  limited  to  the  collection  of  the  literary 
productions  of  their  professional  brethren  of  the 
Orient.  They  translated  the  ancient  Greek  masters. 
They  composed  voluminous  commentaries  on  famous 


512  HiSTOEY  OT  THE 

oathors  whose  opinions  were  regarded  as  oracular. 
No  names  in  the  long  catalogue  of  Moslem  genius 
stand  higher  than  those  of  Abulcasis,  the  originator  of 
modem  surgery;  than  Avenzoar,  whose  family  was 
prominent  for  three  himdred  years  in  the  medical  an- 
nals of  Moorish  Spain;  than  Averroes,  whose  great 
professional  attainments  have  been  obscured  by  his 
pre-eminent  reputation  as  a  natural  philosopher. 
Arib-Ibn-Said-al-Ebatib,  whose  works  exceeded  a 
thousand  in  rnunber,  composed  treatises  on  gynascal- 
ogy  and  obstetrics,  and  was  the  author  of  the  Calendar 
of  Cordova,  a  wonderful  compilation  of  medical 
truths,  surgical  maxims,  astronomical  and  agricul- 
tural knowledge.  Ibn-Waf  ed,  of  Toledo,  who  lived 
in  the  tenth  century,  and  whose  extraordinary  abilities 
made  him  conspicuous  among  hundreds  of  eminent 
contemporaries,  consumed  twenty  years  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  his  work  on  the  general  practice  of  medi- 
cine, Ibn-Zohr,  of  Seville,  was  the  first  to  discover 
that  scabies  was  produced  by  a  diminutive  parasite, 
and  to  prescribe  sulphur  as  a  remedy.  The  treatise 
of  Mohammed-Ibn-Quassum  on  diseases  of  the  eye 
occupied  six  hundred  pages;  that  of  Mohammed-al- 
Temini  on  hernia  and  tumors  nearly  four  hundred. 
Daoud-al-Agrebi  wrote  on  fumigations,  collyriums, 
hemostatics;  he  reconmiends  the  administration  of 
narcotics  in  lithotomy,  in  the  incision  of  abscesses,  and 
in  emasculation  for  the  production  of  eunuchs.  Sala- 
din-Ibn-Yusuf  published  a  book  on  the  anatomy  of 
the  eye  and  the  theories  of  vision.  The  scientific  and 
logical  methods  inaugurated  by  the  khalifs  of  the 
East  were  perfected  in  the  medical  colleges  of  Mo- 
hammedan Spain.  The  study  of  anatomy  attained  a 
development  previously  unknown  to  the  traditions 
and  experience  of  the  profession.  From  the  con- 
templation of  bone-heaps  in  the  cemeteries  the  stu- 
dent advanced  to  the  performance  of  autopsies;  to 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Extbote  518 

the  determination,  by  actual  survey,  of  the  location 
and  offices  of  the  internal  organs;  to  the  vivisection 
of  quadrupeds  and  criminals.  A  material  advance  in 
general  intelligence  is  implied  from  the  fact  that  these 
inquiries,  heretofore  so  repugnant  to  popular  feeling 
and  religious  tradition,  could  be  prosecuted  in  peace. 
In  etiology,  pathology,  therapeutics,  great  progress 
was  made.  Surgery,  whose  practice  had  entailed  re- 
proach rather  than  distinction  upon  its  professors, 
was,  by  the  removal  of  the  prejudice  attaching  to 
anatomical  demonstration,  relieved  of  the  obloquy 
with  which  it  was  generally  regarded.  A  blind  rever- 
ence for  precedent  and  authority  was  not  recognized 
by  the  practitioners  of  the  Hispano-Arab  school. 
They  inculcated  the  paramoimt  importance  of  a  com- 
petent knowledge  of  the  functions  of  the  organs  of 
the  hmnan  body,  which  they  well  knew  could  only  be 
obtained  from  the  practice  of  dissection,  abhorrent 
to  the  minds  of  both  the  Moslem  and  the  Jew.  They 
advised  great  caution  in  all  operations.  Every  new 
theory  was  subjected  to  severe  and  exhaustive  tests. 
Heroic  treatment  was  adopted  only  where  milder 
means  had  proved  unsuccessful.  Whenever  possible, 
the  curative  powers  of  nature  were  allowed  full  exer- 
cise; and  a  change  of  dimate,  especially  in  pulmonary 
affections,  was  one  of  the  principal  resources  of  the 
Moorish  physicians.  Their  works  were  elucidated  by 
the  introduction  into  the  text  of  drawings  of  instru- 
ments adapted  to  the  removal  of  the  morbid  condi- 
tions described;  and  science  is  indebted  to  the  Spanish 
Moslems  for  this  innovation,  now  an  essential  part  of 
all  treatises  on  surgery.  The  treatment  of  the  eye 
received  more  attention  from  the  Arabs  than  any 
other  branch  of  the  profession.  Their  oculists  were 
most  accomplished  operators;  the  heat  and  dryness 
of  the  climate  being  favorable  to  ophthalmic  affec- 
tions and  affording  the  surgeon  varied  and  inoesaant 

Vcft.  JIL-« 


514  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

practice.  They  enumerate  nine  different  forms  of 
cataract,  which  they  treated  by  couching  and  by 
pimcture.  Their  needles  were  both  round  and  tri- 
angular; some  were  hollow  and  made  of  glass.  The 
Arabs  were  the  first  to  perform  the  important  opera- 
tion of  lithotomy  and  to  reduce  old  dislocations.  They 
knew  how  to  ligature  the  arteries  four  centuries 
before  Ambrose  Pare.  They  used  hooks  for  the  ex- 
traction of  polypi.  They  made  frequent  and  intelli- 
gent use  of  counter-irritants.  The  seton  is  ilieir  in- 
vention. The  application  of  leeches  in  apoplexy  was 
a  common  incident  in  their  practice.  They  were 
familiar  with  the  effects  of  caustics  and  acids  as 
escharotics.  They  substituted  refrigerants  for  tcmics 
in  certain  affections  of  the  nerve-centres.  They  un- 
derstood the  value  of  cold  water  in  arresting  hemor- 
rhage. They  originated  the  modem  method  of  band- 
aging. The  treatment  of  slow  fevers,  like  typhoid, 
by  baths  of  low  temperature,  was  frequently  em- 
ployed by  them;  it  was  recommended  by  Rhazes  nine 
hundred  years  before  its  announcement  to  the  present 
generation  as  a  new  and  remarkable  discovery.  To 
Ibn-Zohr  medical  science  owes  the  operation  of  tra- 
cheotomy and  the  original  description  of  pericarditis. 
Abulcasis,  in  explaining  lithotomy,  advises  the  section 
used  by  surgeons  ever  since  he  wrote,  in  the  tenth 
century.  Nor  had  the  advantages  derived  from  anaes- 
thesia escaped  the  notice  of  these  profoimd  and  in- 
genious observers.  They  suggest  the  administration, 
in  decoction,  of  darnel — ^the  Lolium  Temulentum — 
and  other  plants  of  narcotic  properties,  imtil  complete 
loss  of  consciousness  and  sensation  is  obtained,  to 
facilitate  the  performance  of  severe  operations.  Even 
the  results  of  microbial  infection  appear  to  have  been 
recognized  by  them,  although  its  cause  remained  un- 
known. When,  in  the  tenth  century,  Rhazes  was 
directed  by  the  Ehalif  to  select  a  hospital  site  in  the 


Moorish  Empibs  in  Eubofe  515 

city  of  Bagdad,  he  caused  pieces  of  meat  to  be  sus- 
pended in  different  localities,  and  the  building  was 
erected  in  that  place  where,  after  a  given  time,  the 
least  putrefaction  was  visible.  Nor  in  that  early  day 
was  the  care  of  animals  neglected,  and  the  name  of 
Abu-Bekr-Ibn-Bedr  has  descended  to  posterity  as 
that  of  a  famous  veterinary  surgeon. 

In  their  contributions  to  the  pharmacopoeia,  the 
Spanish  Mohammedans  rendered  invaluable  services 
to  medicine.  Abul-Abbas,  of  Seville,  was  ^Jie  first  to 
apply  the  principles  of  botanical  science — theretofore 
principally  devoted  to  agriculture — ^to  the  piu'poses  of 
the  apothecary  and  the  physician.  In  the  work  of 
Ibn-al-Awam  six  himdred  plants  possessing  medicinal 
properties  are  enumerated;  in  that  of  Ibn-Beithar 
more  than  three  hundred,  hitherto  unclassified  or  un- 
known, are  mentioned  and  described.  Ibn-Essouri,  in 
his  work  on  the  Materia  Medica,  painted  the  herbs 
which  had  been  the  subject  of  his  investigations  not 
only  as  they  grew,  but  as  they  appeared,  when  dried, 
on  the  shelves  of  the  druggist;  his  is  the  first  example 
of  an  Arabic  book  illustrated  in  colors.  The  methods, 
of  the  Moorish  practitioners  were  conservative.  They 
attempted  no  doubtful  or  hazardous  experiments. 
They  discarded  the  drastic  remedies  of  the  ancients. 
Profoundly  versed  in  the  science  of  horticulture,  they 
watered  the  roots  of  plants  and  trees  with  strong  in- 
fusions of  purgative  drugs,  and  afterwards  admin- 
istered their  fruits.  Their  personal  attention  to  the 
rules  of  hygiene  was  often  evidenced  by  their  re- 
markable longevity.  Bhazes  was  in  active  practice  at 
Bagdad  for  more  than  half  a  century;  Abulcasis  at- 
tained the  great  age  of  one  hundred  and  one  years. 

The  superior  excellence  of  the  Spanish-Arab  school 
is  attributable  to  the  fact  that  its  members  devoted 
their  talents  to  a  single  profession.  For  the  most 
p^rt^.  they  avoided  tlie.  example  pt  the.Onental,  whQSc; 


516  HiSTOBT  OF  THE 

medical  researches  were  hampered  by  philosophical 
speculations,  and  who  turned  from  the  diagnosis  of 
ailments  and  the  application  of  remedies  to  the  fasci- 
nations of  alchemy  and  to  vagaries  concerning  the 
imaginary  relations  of  humanity  to  the  mysterious  in- 
fluence of  the  stars.  They  were  not  altogether  free 
from  these  delusions,  nevertheless,  for  they  pulverized 
jewels,  supposed  to  be  efficacious  in  certain  diseases, 
and  coated  their  drugs  with  gold  and  silver  leaf,  a  pro- 
ceeding which  to  the  adept  had  a  profound  alchemical 
significance.  From  this  custom  is  derived  our  expres- 
sion, "  to  gild  the  pill."  They  usually,  however,  con- 
fined their  observations  to  the  legitimate  sphere  of 
the  physician — ^to  the  subjects  of  medicine,  surgery, 
pharmacy,  hygiene. 

The  various  topical  applications  used  at  present 
by  the  profession — such  as  unguents,  plasters,  coun- 
ter-irritants, and  pomades— originated  in  Mohanune- 
dan  Spain.  The  hospital  service  of  that  country  has 
received  little  attention  from  historians,  but  it  is 
highly  improbable  that,  in  the  general  advance  of 
•civilization,  this  important  auxiliary  to  medicine 
should  have  been  at  all  neglected.  It  is  a  singular 
fact  that  the  only  detailed  notice  of  a  Moorish  hos- 
pital in  the  Peninsula  is  of  that  of  Algeziras,  whidi 
was  founded  in  the  twelfth  century.  Tradition  re- 
ports, however,  that  fifty  public  institutions  of  lliis 
kind  existed  at  one  time  at  Cordova.  The  Hispano- 
Arab  practitioners  held  consultations  at  the  bedside 
of  the  patient;  some,  employed  by  the  government, 
visited  the  sick  of  remote  localities  at  regular  inter^ 
vals;  for  the  poor  there  was  gratuitous  attendance 
and  treatment.  The  discoveries  of  Arab  medicine 
were  mainly  preserved  and  diffused  through  the  trans- 
lations of  Gerard  of  Cremona,  whose  indefatigable 
industry  imposed  such  lasting  obligations  on  modem 
science.    For  fifty  years  be  was  employed  at  Toledo, 


Moorish  Emfdub  in  Eusofe  517 

until  his  translations  reached  the  enormous  number 
of  seventy-six.  Had  it  not  been  for  his  efforts,  and 
those  of  his  patient  collaborators,  the  works  of  the 
Moorish  physicians  would  have  shared  the  fate  of  the 
voluminous  collections  of  Arabic  miscellaneous  litera- 
ture. Of  the  millions  of  volumes  which  represented 
the  intellectual  glory  of  the  khalif  ate  scarcely  a  copy 
exists  in  Spain.  What  escaped  the  malignant  vigi- 
lance of  Ximenes  perished  at  the  hands  of  the  Inqui- 
sition. It  is  not  generally  known  that  the  bulk  of  the 
manuscripts  of  the  Escorial  library  constitutes  no  part 
of  the  literary  inheritance  of  the  Moslem  domination. 
They  represent  the  spoil  of  vessels  captured  on  the 
coast  of  Morocco  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  In  nearly  all  of  these  the  invocation  of 
Allah  and  Mohammed,  with  which  every  important 
Arabic  work  begins,  has  been  carefully  erased. 

Of  such  a  character  were  the  literary  and  scientific 
achievements  of  the  Arabs,  whose  highest  mental  de- 
velopment was  reached  under  the  influence  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan dynasties  of  the  Peninsula.  In  the  fierce 
and  relentless  struggle  prosecuted  for  centuries  be- 
twen  pontifical  iniquity  and  intolerance  and  Moslem 
learning,  the  former  ultimately  triumphed.  It  may 
not  be  inappropriate  at  the  close  of  this  chapter  to  re- 
count the  consequences  of  that  triumph;  to  disclose 
the  aims  of  the  victor;  to  enumerate  the  sacrifices  of 
the  vanquished;  to  contrast  the  efi^ects  of  the  suprem- 
acy of  either  upon  the  welfare  of  humanity  and  the 
march  of  civilization.  From  the  Arabian  Prophet, 
reared  amidst  the  pastoral  simplicity  and  barbaric 
ignorance  of  the  Desert,  came  such  utterances  as  these, 
— ^utterances  which,  if  not  inspired,  are  yet  certainly 
of  priceless  value  to  the  human  race:  "  Teach  science: 
whoever  teaches  it  fears  God;  whoever  desires  it 
adores  God;  whoever  speaks  of  it  praises  God;  who- 
ever diffuses  it  distributes  alms;  whoever  possesses 


518  HiSTOBT  OF  THE 

it  becomes  an  object  of  veneration  and  respect.  Sci- 
ence preserves  us  from  error  and  from  sin;  it  illmni- 
nates  the  road  to  Paradise ;  it  is  our  protector  in  traveL 
our  confidant  in  the  Desert,  our  companion  in  soli- 
tude. It  guides  us  through  the  pleasures  and  the  sor- 
rows of  life;  it  serves  us  alike  as  an  ornament  among 
our  friends  and  as  a  buckler  against  our  enemies ;  it  is 
through  its  instrumentaUty  that  the  Almighty  raises 
up  those  whom  he  has  appointed  to  determine  the  good 
and  the  true.  The  memories  of  such  men  are  the  only 
ones  which  shall  survive,  for  their  noble  deeds  will 
serve  as  models  for  the  imitation  of  the  great  minds 
that  shall  come  after  them.  Science  is  a  potent 
remedy  for  the  infirmities  of  ignorance,  a  brilliant 
beacon  in  the  night  of  injustice.  The  study  of  letters 
is  as  meritorious  as  fasting;  their  communication  is 
•not  inferior  in  efiicacy  to  prayer;  in  a  generous  heart 
they  awaken  the  most  elevated  sentiments;  to  the 
wicked  they  impart  the  corrective  and  humanizing 
precepts  of  virtue."  These  words,  spoken  by  Mo- 
hammed in  the  seventh  century,  were  received  by  the 
votaries  of  Islam  with  the  respect  due  to  a  revelation 
destined  to  guide  their  policy,  with  reference  to  liter- 
ary pursuits,  through  all  subsequent  ages. 

Far  diflferent  was  the  attitude  assimtied  by  the  ec- 
clesiastical power  whose  despotic  mandates  were  for  a 
thousand  years  recognized  and  obeyed  by  the  proudest 
sovereigns  of  Christendom.  It  early  perceived  the 
incompatibility  of  its  pretensions  with  the  untram- 
melled exercise  of  the  faculties  of  the  human  intellect 
Founded  upon  principles  whose  acceptance,  as  max- 
ims of  divine  origin,  necessarily  precluded  all  ideas 
of  improvement  and  progress,  it  had  no  resource  but 
quiescence;  it  could  countenance  no  condition  but  that 
of  immobility.  It  placed  a  premium  upon  ignorance, 
and  enjoined  the  employment  of  persecution  as  a 
virtue.    It  blighted  every  noble  aspiration  whidii  came 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  519 

within  the  sphere  of  its  destructive  energy.  Through 
the  oracular  mouths  of  the  Fathers  it  denounced  all 
philosophy  as  "empty  and  false."  In  its  Constitu- 
tion of  Faith,  promulgated  in  the  nineteenth  century 
by  the  Vatican  Council, — ^many  of  whose  articles  are 
indorsed  as  sound  by  every  consistent  member  of  the 
Evangelical  Communion, — ^it  anathematized  all  "  who 
shall  say  that  human  sciences  ought  to  be  pursued  in 
such  a  spirit  of  freedom  that  one  may  be  allowed  to 
hold  as  true  their  assertions,  even  when  opposed  to 
revealed  doctrine." 

Such  were  the  various  aspects  under  which  scientific 
thought  was  regarded  respectively  by  the  Founder  of 
Islam  and  the  infallible  representatives  of  Christian- 
ity. The  effects  of  sudi  spiritual  admonitions  upon 
the  physical  condition  of  those  subjected  to  their  in- 
fluence are  disclosed  by  the  material  and  intellectual 
prosperity  or  debasement  of  nations.  In  no  examples 
of  the  political  and  economic  life  of  the  Middle  Ages 
or  of  subsequent  times  are  such  striking,  such  incred- 
ible, contrasts  exhibited  as  in  the  annals  of  Moham- 
medan Spain  and  Catholic  Europe.  In  the  tenth  cen- 
tury Andalusia  was  traversed  in  every  direction  by 
magnificent  aqueducts;  Cordova  was  a  city  of  foun- 
tains; its  thoroughfares,  for  a  distance  of  miles,  were 
brilliantly  illuminated,  substantially  paved,  kept  in 
excellent  repair,  regularly  patrolled  by  guardians  of 
the  peace.  In  Paris  there  were  no  pavements  until 
the  thirteenth  century ;  in  London  none  until  the  foiu*- 
teenth;  the  streets  or  both  capitals  were  receptacles 
of  filth,  and  often  impassable;  at  night  shrouded  in 
inky  darkness ;  at  all  times  dominated  by  outlaws ;  the 
haunt  of  the  footpad,  the  nursery  of  the  pestilence, 
the  soiurce  of  every  disease,  the  scene  of  every  crime. 
It  was  not  until  the  dose  of  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 
that  even  a  defective  system  of  street  lighting  was 
adopted;  in  London  the  mortality  of  the  plague  is  a 


520  History  of  the 

oonvindng  proof  of  the  unsanitary  conditions  that 
everywhere  prevailed;  the  supply  of  water  was  de- 
rived from  tiie  polluted  river  or  from  wells  reeking 
with  contamination.  Nor  did  time  and  experience 
bring  to  the  public  mind  a  realization  of  the  impor- 
tance of  improvements  vitally  affecting  the  health  and 
convenience  of  every  community.  As  late  as  1825, 
water  of  doubtful  purity  was  hawked  about  from 
door  to  door  in  the  city  of  New  York;  a  solitary 
wooden  pump  in  Chatham  Street  sufficed  for  the  gen- 
eral necessities  of  the  poor;  sewage  was  carried  in 
tubs  on  the  heads  of  negroes  and  thrown  into  the 
river;  and  only  three  hundred  lamps  and  gas-jets 
diffused  their  uncertain  and  flickering  glare  through 
the  squares  and  avenues  of  the  metropolis  of  the 
western  world. 

The  annual  receipts  of  the  state  from  all  sources 
under  Abd-al-Rahman  III.  in  tiie  first  half  of  the 
tenth  century  exceeded  three  hundred  million  dollars; 
the  revenues  of  the  English  Crown  at  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century  were  fifteen  million;  those  of 
the  United  Provinces  less  than  eighteen  million; 
those  of  France  sixty  miUion,  estimated  at  the  present 
value  of  money.  At  the  decease  of  this  Moorish 
sovereign  in  961,  there  were  found  in  the  royal  coffers 
five  miUion  pieces  of  gold,  equal  to  one  hundred  mil- 
lion dollars.  When  Louis^  XIV.,  the  greatest  poten- 
tate of  his  time,  died  in  1715,  the  treasury  of  France 
was  bankrupt.  The  inhabitants  of  England  at  the 
death  of  Elizabeth  were  about  four  million;  the  popu- 
lation of  Moorish  Spain  six  centuries  previous  to 
that  date  could  not  have  been  less  than  thirty  million, 
and  was  probably  nearer  fifty.  In  1700,  London,  the 
most  populous  city  of  Christian  Europe,  was  only 
half  as  large  as  Cordova  was  in  900,  when  Almeria 
and  Seville  had  each  as  numerous  a  population  as  the 
capital  of  the  British  Empire  eight  hundred  years 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubope  521 

afterwards.  At  the  dawn  of  the  eleventh  century  the 
Moslem  dominions  of  Sicily  and  Spain  presented  a 
pictm*e  of  universal  cultivation  and  consequent  pros- 
perity, where  industry  was  promoted  and  idleness  was 
punished;  where  an  enlightened  spirit  of  humanity 
had  provided  asylums  within  whose  walls  the  infirm 
and  the  aged  might  pass  their  remaining  days  in  com- 
fort and  peace.  Six  himdred  years  afterwards  what 
are  now  the  richest  and  most  valuable  agricultural  dis- 
tricts of  Great  Britain  were  unclaimed  and  uninhabit- 
able bog  and  coppice,  abandoned  to  game  and  fre- 
quented by  robbers ;  and  one-fourth  of  the  inhabitants 
of  England,  incapable  of  the  task  of  self-support, 
were  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year  dependent 
upon  pubUc  charity,  for  which  purpose  a  sum  equal 
to  one-half  of  the  revenues  of  the  crown  was  annually 
disbursed.  In  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century  there 
were  nine  hundred  public  baths  in  the  capital  of 
Moorish  Spain;  in  the  eighteenth  century  there  were 
not  as  many  in  all  the  coimtries  of  Christian  Europe. 
In  the  eighth  century,  the  cottages  occupied  by  the 
lower  classes  of  the  Spanish  Moslems  were  embowered 
in  roses,  were  surrounded  by  fields  of  waving  grain 
and  orchards  of  luscious  fruits,  were  furnished  with 
all  the  comforts  and  many  of  the  luxuries  of  life;  in 
the  siid;eenth  century,  the  peasantry  of  France  and 
Germany,  ill-dad,  begrimed  with  filth,  and  ignorant 
of  the  taste  of  bread,  were  living  in  squalid  huts,  sleep- 
ing upon  reeking  heaps  of  straw,  drinking  the  waters 
of  pond  and  morass,  and  feeding  on  carrots  and 
acorns.  Seven  centuries  after  the  cities  of  the  Penin- 
sula had  been  drained  by  a  system  of  great  sewers, 
their  streets  kept  free  from  rubbish,  and  subjected  to 
daily  cleansing,  Paris  was  still  worthy  of  its  ancient 
appellation  of  Lutetia,  "  The  Muddy;"  the  way  of 
the  pedestrian  was  blocked  by  heaps  of  steaming  offal 
and  garbage;  and  droves  of  swine,  the  only  scaven- 


622  HlSTOBT  OF  THE 

gers,   roamed  unmolested  through  oourt-yard  and 
thoroughfare. 

Under  the  conditions  of  intellectual  culture  which 
characterized  Moslem  and  Christian  society  even  a 
greater  inequality  prevailed.  The  library  of  Mo- 
standir,  Sultan  of  Egypt,  contained  eighty  thousand 
volumes;  that  of  the  Fatimites  of  Cairo,  a  million; 
that  of  Tripoli,  two  hundred  thousand;  in  the  thir- 
teenth century,  when  Bagdad  was  sacked  by  the  Mon- 
gols, the  books  cast  into  the  Tigris  completely  covered 
its  surface,  and  their  ink  dyed  its  waters  black,  while 
a  far  greater  number  were  destroyed  by  fire;  the 
public  collections  of  the  Moorish  khalif  ate  of  Spain 
were  seventy  in  number,  and  the  great  library  of  Al- 
Hakem  II.  alone  included  six  hundred  tiiousand  vol- 
umes. The  collections  of  many  private  individuals 
were  proportionately  large.  In  that  of  Ibn-al-Ma- 
thran,  the  physician  of  Saladin,  were  ten  thousand 
manuscripts;  upon  the  shelves  of  Dunasch-ben- 
Tamin,  the  great  Jewish  surgeon  of  Cairo,  were  more 
than  twenty  thousand.  Four  centuries  afterwards 
few  books  existed  in  Christian  Europe  excepting 
those  preserved  in  monasteries;  the  royal  library  of 
France  consisted  of  nine  hundred  volumes,  two-thirds 
of  which  were  theological  works;  their  subjects  were 
limited  to  pious  homilies,  the  miracles  of  saints,  the 
duties  of  obedience  to  ecclesiastical  superiors, — ^their 
sole  merit  consisted  in  the  elegance  of  their  chirog- 
raphy  and  the  beauty  of  their  illuminations.  During 
the  Hispano-Arab  domination  it  was  difficult  to  en- 
coimter  even  a  Moorish  peasant  who  could  not  read 
and  write;  during  the  same  period  in  Europe  many 
great  personages  could  not  boast  these  accomplish- 
ments. From  the  ninth  to  the  thirteenth  century  the 
Spanish-Arabs  possessed  an  educational  system  not 
inferior  to  the  most  improved  ones  of  modem  times; 
they  taught  astronomy  from  globes  and  planispheres; 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe   '         628 

fhey  measured  the  circumference  of  the  earth;  they 
observed  the  motions  of  the  planets;  they  calculated 
the  density  of  the  atmosphere;  they  were  familiar  with 
the  natural  and  artificial  conditions  under  which 
vapors  and  gases  are  generated.  For  the  European 
of  that  epoch  there  were  no  schools,  for  popular  learn- 
ing was  discountenanced  as  conducive  to  heresy;  edu- 
cation was  confined  to  the  cloister;  the  stars  were  but 
celestial  lamps,  whose  only  office  was  the  nocturnal 
illumination  of  the  earth;  the  latter  was  flat,  and 
above  it  rose,  in  regular  gradation,  the  seven  regions 
of  heaven;  the  ebullition  and  the  explosion  of  gases 
were  attributed  to  demoniac  influence  and  to  the 
agency  of  mischievous  imps  and  goblins.  Five  cen- 
turies after  the  Moorish  physicians  of  Spain  had 
treated  disease  by  the  rational  principles  of  medicine, 
surgery,  and  hygiene,  Europe  still  adhered  to  the 
archaic  conceptions  of  barbaric  ignorance;  to  the  be- 
lief that  all  illness  was  a  manifestation  of  divine  dis- 
pleasure; to  the  possession  by  evil  spirits;  to  the 
delusive  expedients  of  priestly  artifice, — ^the  exhibi- 
tion of  relics,  the  muttering  of  texts,  the  perform- 
ance of  exorcisms.  Six  hundred  years  after  the 
celebrated  astronomer,  Ibn-Junis — ^who  constructed 
the  Hakemite  Table,  advanced  proofs  of  the  eccen- 
tricity of  the  earth's  orbit,  and  utilized  the  pendu- 
Imn  for  the  purposes  of  chronometry — ^was  honored 
and  awarded  with  the  friendship  of  the  Khalif  of 
Egypt,  Galileo,  in  the  degrading  robe  of  the  peni- 
tent, horrible  with  painted  flames  and  devils,  was 
forced,  kneeling  before  the  familiars  of  the  Holy 
Office,  to  abjure,  as  dangerous  heresies,  the  scientific 
truths  he  had  subjected  to  mathematical  and  ocular 
demonstration, — ^the  grand  discoveries  which  have 
made  his  name  immortal;  and  Bruno  was  sent  to  the 
stake  for  admitting  the  philosophical  doctrine  of  tlie 
all-pervading  Divine  Essence,  for  teaching  the  heresy 


524  History  of  the 

of  a  plurality  of  worlds,  and  for  insisting  that  the 
earth  revolved  on  its  axis  and  round  the  sun.  Seven 
hundred  years  after  universal  toleration  was  enforced 
throughout  the  domain  of  the  Ommeyade  Khalif  ate, 
— ^where  even  the  populace  had  learned  to  respect  the 
weaknesses  of  senile  eccentricity,  and  the  belief  in 
demoniacal  possession  had  been  contemptuously  aban- 
doned to  the  most  ignorant  of  the  provincial  rabble, 
— ^the  Duke  of  York  was  subjecting  the  unhappy 
Covenanters  of  Scotland  to  promiscuous  massacre 
and  to  the  excruciating  tortm-e  of  the  boot,  and  Cot- 
ton Mather  was  burning  witches  on  Salem  Common. 
More  than  twenty  generations  had  elapsed  since  the 
Arab  geographer  was  first  regarded  by  his  country- 
men as  a  public  benefactor,  by  his  king  as  worthy 
of  the  highest  honors  that  royalty  can  bestow,  by  the 
learned  with  the  respect  attaching  to  the  possessor 
of  unusual  attainments;  when  Calvin  tortured  Ser- 
vetus  at  Geneva  for  publishing  the  unseriptural  asser- 
tion that  Palestine,  so  far  from  being  a  land  flowing 
with  milk  and  honey,  was,  in  fact,  a  barren  waste  of 
volcanic  desolation, — Servetus,  the  great  anatomist, 
who  came  within  a  hair's-breadth  of  anticipating  Har- 
vey in  his  discovery  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood. 
From  time  immemorial  among  unenlightened  races 
insanity  has  been  attributed  to  the  influence  of  malig- 
nant spirits,  who  could  only  be  expelled  by  the  un- 
sparing use  of  the  scourge  or  by  the  intervention  of 
the  priest.  The  Arabs  were  the  first  of  nations  to 
discard  this  idea,  to  use  kindness  and  the  adminis- 
tration of  remedies  in  the  treatment  of  the  demented, 
and  to  establish  asylums. 

These  conditions  disclose  the  comparative  value  of 
two  great  politico-religious  systems,  both  claiming 
divine  authority,  each  uniting  in  its  head  the  func- 
tions of  Chru-ch  and  State, — one  the  exponent  and 
zealous  promoter  of  every  scientific  impulse,  the  other 


Moorish  Empire  m  Europe  525 

the  ever-consistent  representative  of  intellectual  re- 
pression. The  influence  of  Moslem  genius  is  felt 
to-day  in  the  numerous  inventions,  the  insatiable  thirst 
for  knowledge,  the  marvellous  development  of  art, 
science,  and  letters  which  have  made  the  closing  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century  ever  memorable  in  the  an- 
nals of  civilization.  Apparently  extinguished  by  the 
noxious  vapors  of  superstition  that  had  darkened  the 
Christian  world  for  so  many  ages,  the  vital  spark  of 
learning  still  remained,  which,  rekindled  in  an  epoch 
more  propitious  to  mental  culture,  was  destined  to 
advance  in  an  even  more  marked  degree  the  material 
interests,  as  well  as  the  most  noble  aspirations,  of  man- 
kind. The  law  of  human  progress  even  under  the 
most  unfavorable  conditions  is  constant,  invariable, 
eternal.  Its  manifestations  differ  only  in  the  degree 
of  their  advancement.  The  latter  may  be  checked, 
but  its  retardation  is  only  temporary.  The  ground 
lost  by  scientific  truth  in  one  century  it  will  surely 
make  up  in  the  next,  and,  despite  the  hostile  agencies 
which  may  conspire  for  its  suppression,  it  is  destined 
eventually  to  triumph. 

The  consideration  of  Arabic  intellectual  life,  and 
especially  of  its  culmination  in  the  Spanish  Penin- 
sula, the  astonishing  energy,  curiosity,  and  perse- 
verance that  characterized  every  stage  of  its  devel- 
opment from  its  very  origin  to  its  extinction,  the 
phenomenal  rapidity  of  its  advance,  the  superhuman 
greatness  of  its  deeds,  suggest  the  infinite  possibilities 
to  which  its  revival  may  ultimately  give  rise  as  affect- 
ing the  destiny  of  nations. 

At  the  present  day,  when  every  year,  nay,  almost 
every  month,  brings  forth  some  new  and  wonderful 
discovery;  when  vocal  communication  between  dis- 
tant points  is  maintained  solely  by  atmospheric  aid; 
when  chemistry  is  resolving  into  numerous  constitu- 
ents sufastanoes  for  ages  conaideired  elementary;  when 


526  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

by  the  emplojmtient  of  enormous  lenses  the  heavenly 
bodies  are  brought  within  almost  tangible  propinquity 
to  the  earth;  when  even  the  most  humble  offices  of 
domestic  economy  are  performed  by  the  mysterious 
agency  of  electrical  apparatus;  when  the  invention 
of  tremendously  powerful  means  of  destruction  daily 
renders  war  more  difficult  and  peace  more  desirable; 
when  the  gases  of  the  atmosphere  are  artificially  de- 
composed and  separately  made  the  objects  of  com- 
mercial traffic;  when  the  skill  of  the  physician  has 
practically  eradicated  diseases  long  deemed  incurable; 
in  this  era  of  scientific  progress  and  of  unparalleled 
intellectual  achievement  who  will  be  so  bold  as  to 
assert  that  even  the  dreams  of  the  alchemist,  the 
cherished  phantoms  of  Moorish  imagination,  may  not 
soon  be  realized?  In  scores  of  laboratories  in  Europe 
and  America  there  are  to-day  chemists,  diligently  and 
quietly,  with  the  patience,  if  not  with  the  enthusiasm, 
of  the  ancient  adept,  endeavoring  to  determine  by  the 
aid  of  the  prodigious  resources  of  modem  science  the 
ever  doubtf  id  question  of  the  transmutation  of  metals. 
From  all  quarters  of  the  civilized  world  come  weU- 
authenticated  reports  that  some  of  the  greatest  minds 
of  the  century,  minds  whose  every  utterance  clainos 
attention  and  respect,  are  engaged  in  investigations 
whose  effects  may  surpass  those  of  the  imagined  uni- 
versal panacea,  and  which  will  impart  to  the  listless 
energy,  to  the  deformed  symmetry,  and  to  hoary  and 
decrepit  age  the  strength  of  long  departed  manhood; 

"  Lumenque  Juventie 
Purpureum." 

Is  it  too  much  to  assume  that  our  age,  so  prolific 
of  marvels  that  what  excites  astonishment  to-day 
is  certain  to  become  commonplace  to-morrow,  will 
accomplish  these  and  even  greater  results;  an  age 
ingenious  in  theory,  fertile  in  invention,  phenomenal 


Moorish  Emfise  jen  Eubofe  527 

in  versatility,  skilful  in  practice;  an  age  of  eccentric 
and  startling  propositions;  an  age  which  looks  for- 
ward with  audacious  confidence  to  the  solution  of  even 
that  most  recondite  problem  of  biology,  the  artificial 
production  of  organic  life?  Is  it  unreasonable  to  ex- 
pect that  those  secrets  of  nature  which  have  hitherto 
eluded  the  researches  of  philosophical  experiment  and 
scientific  inquiry  will  erelong  be  revealed? 

These  being  among  the  assiuned  possibilities  of  sci- 
ence, let  us  turn  to  what  it  has  actually  done  for  man- 
kind. In  what  respect  are  these  investigations  pref- 
erable to  that  absolute  resignation  to  ecclesiastical 
authority  which  so  generally  prevailed  when  devotion 
was  exalted  and  intelligence  enchained?  What  ad- 
vantage has  resulted  from  this  poring  over  manu- 
scripts, this  collecting  of  plants,  this  delving  in  the 
earth,  this  star-gazing,  this  mixing  of  acids,  this  study 
of  skeletons?    Cui  bono? 

The  answer  comes  back  from  every  phase  of  an 
advancing  civilization,  from  the  din  of  a  thousand 
workshops  and  the  clatter  of  a  million  looms;  from 
the  whistle  of  the  locomotive  in  the  desert  and  the 
bell  of  the  steamer  stranded  amidst  the  polar  ice; 
from  the  network  of  railways  seaming  each  conti- 
nent from  centre  to  circumference;  from  canal  and 
aqueduct,  from  tunnel  and  bridge,  and  all  the  grand 
monuments  of  civU  engineering;  from  the  safety- 
lamp,  flickering  through  the  poisonous  vapors  of  the 
miner's  cave;  from  the  seats  of  commerce  crowded 
with  the  appliances  of  enjoyment  and  luxury;  from 
the  ^arbors  with  their  forests  of  shapely  masts;  from 
the  innumerable  triumphs  of  inventive  genius  which 
alike  increase  the  pleasures  of  the  wealthy  and  ease 
the  burdens  of  the  poor,  and  are  gratefidly  felt  at 
the  desk  of  the  speculative  philosopher  and  tiie  bench 
of  the  artisan.  But  even  more  than  this  has  science 
accomplished.     It  has  explored  new  regions  in  the 


628  HlSlX>RT  OF  THE 

boundless  domain  of  human  knowledge.  It  has  dis- 
covered and  applied  the  laws  of  planetary  motion; 
determined  the  distances  of  the  heavenly  bodies;  esti- 
mated their  masses ;  laid  down  the  substances  of  which 
they  are  composed;  and  described  the  complex  rela- 
tions in  which  they  stand  to  each  other.  It  has  meas- 
ured time  down  to  the  incredibly  small  fraction  of 
the  millionth  part  of  a  second.  It  has  scanned  the 
borders  of  the  universe,  and  brought  within  the  scope 
of  vision  stars  so  distant  that  the  image  formed  to-day 
upon  the  retina  of  the  observer  is  produced  by  light 
emitted  five  million  years  ago.  By  means  of  the 
microscope,  it  has  opened  a  fairy  world  teeming  with 
mjrriad  types  of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  more  curi- 
ous than  the  fabled  regions  of  the  Orient,  more  won- 
derful than  the  enchanted  garden  of  Armida.  It 
has  placed  upon  the  photographic  negative  faces, 
flowers,  landscapes,  depicted  in  the  exquisite  and  har- 
monious colors  of  Nature.  By  the  discovery  of  the 
radiferous  salts, — ^polonium,  radiimi,  thorium,  actin- 
ium, titanium, — ^it  has  disclosed  to  the  chemist  a  new 
and  enchanting  field  of  research,  whose  extent  and 
possibilities  cannot  yet  even  be  made  the  subject  of 
intelligent  conjecture;  and  has  instituted  the  study  of 
substances  whose  astonishing  properties  tend  to  over- 
throw the  hitherto  well-founded  theories  of  the  various 
relations  of  matter,  and,  in  some  instances,  to  impera- 
tively demand  their  modification  or  radical  reconstruc- 
tion; whose  investigation  has  established  as  truisms 
the  most  glaring  apparent  physical  paradoxes;  in  the 
presence  of  whose  marvellous  effects  the  properties 
of  solidity,  cohesion,  and  opacity  seem  to  vanish; 
which  exhibit  such  a  subdivision  of  matter  into  infini- 
tesimal particles  as  to  suggest  their  practical  dissocia- 
tion, and  in  comparison  with  whose  dimensions  the 
inconceivably  minute  primordial  atoms  of  Democritus 
are  absolutely  colossal;  the  origin  of  whose  mysteri- 


MooBisH  Empire  in  Europe  529 

ous  power  no  hypothesis,  no  analysis,  no  apparatus, 
has  so  far  been  able  to  satisfactorily  determine;  which 
not  improbably  may  afford  solutions  of  cosmical  phe- 
nomena whose  manifestations  alone  have  been  ob- 
served; and  which,  by  their  application  to  anatomical, 
medical,  and  mechanical  science,  may  ultimately  serve 
to  explain  the  origin  of  life,  and  confer  inestimable 
material  benefits  upon  the  hiunan  race.  Of  these 
metallic,  radio-active  bodies,  radium,  the  most  impor- 
tant and  wonderful,  is  one  that  presents  pre-eminently 
interesting  and  inexplicable  peculiarities;  a  substance 
which  possesses  the  remarkable  qualities  of  self-liuni- 
nosity,thermogenesis,  and  actinism;  which  is  endowed 
with  a  singular  recuperative  power,  by  means  of  which 
its  recently  diminished  force  is  restored  without  the 
apparent  aid  of  any  external  agency;  whose  primary 
and  apparently  inexhaustible  source  of  potency  has 
been  variously  and  inconclusively  asserted  to  be  the 
sun,  the  earth,  the  atmosphere;  whose  emanations, 
charged  with  negative  electricity,  impart  the  latter 
to  the  solid,  liquid,  or  gaseous  medium  through  which 
they  pass,  and  communicate  temporary  phosphores- 
cence and  permanent  coloring  to  objects  subjected  to 
their  impact;  whose  rays  travel  with  such  inconceiva- 
ble velocity  that  they  would  traverse  a  distance  equal 
to  five  times  the  circumference  of  the  earth  in  a  single 
second;  which  have  mass  as  well  as  energy;  which, 
despite  the  enormous  rapidity  with  which  they  move, 
may  be  instantaneously  deflected  from  a  direct  to  a 
curvilinear  path  by  the  interposition  of  a  magnet; 
and  by  whose  aid  photographs  may  readily  be  taken 
through  thick  plates  of  lead  and  iron.  Science  has 
invented  explosives  that  rend  mountains  asunder;  by 
the  application  of  the  carbon  point,  it  has  caused  the 
hardest  steel  to  fluidize  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye. 
From  the  black  and  glutinous  refuse  of  gas  manu- 
facture, it  has  extracted  pigments  whose  tints  vie  in 

Vol.  IIL--S4 


680  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

brilliancy  with  those  of  the  rainbow,  and  remedial 
agents  which  in  certain  departments  have  revolution- 
ized the  practice  of  medicine.  It  has  perfected  the 
transmission  of  light,  so  that  by  the  mere  toudiing 
of  a  button  great  cities  are  in  an  instant  illuminated. 
With  no  small  degree  of  probability,  it  has  suggested 
that  incessant  and  universal  molecular  activity,  per- 
vading all  matter  both  organic  and  inorganic,  may 
be  the  controlling  principle  of  the  mysterious  condi- 
tion which  we  designate  as  life,  and  that  the  weight 
of  every  substance  is  in  an  inverse  ratio  to  its  atomic 
energy.  It  has  made  objects  hitherto  opaque  trans- 
parent, and  has  opened  to  the  view  of  the  surgical 
operator  the  inmost  recesses  of  the  human  body.  It 
has  removed  without  apparent  injury  organs  whose 
functions  were  long  considered  indispensable  to  ani- 
mal existence.  By  simple  manipulation  it  has  cured 
congenital  deformities  formerly  considered  hopeless, 
and  restored  distorted  limbs  to  their  normal  strength 
and  symmetry.  It  has  discovered  the  specific  patho- 
genic bacteria  which  produce  many  diseases,  and  ren- 
dered them  innocuous  by  means  of  their  own  cultures. 
Through  the  injection  of  an  extract  obtained  from  a 
glandular  secretion  it  has  prolonged  the  pulsations  of 
the  heart  in  an  animal  for  hours  after  decapitation; 
by  rhythmic  compression  it  has  restored  the  action  of 
that  organ  after  it  had  completely  ceased — ^when  life 
was  practically  extinct. 

Science  has  told  us  that  the  dear  blue  of  the  firma- 
ment, seemingly  of  spotless  purity,  is  caused  by  float- 
ing particles  of  atmospheric  dust;  that  every  twig, 
and  leaf,  and  blade  of  grass — even  every  newly-fallen 
drop  of  rain — ^are  radiferous  centres  of  electric 
energy;  that  motion  is  the  rule,  and  quiescence  the 
exception,  affecting  the  component  atoms  of  the  uni- 
verse,— ^if,  indeed,  quiescence  at  all  exists;  that  the 
parasite,  infesting  the  body  of  the  smallest  of  insects, 


Mcx)Ri8H  Empibb  in  Eubofe  681 

18  itself  the  abode  of  minute  organisms;  that  the  very 
air  we  breathe  is  swarming  with  the  germs  of  suffer- 
ing, disease,  and  death.  It  has  pressed  into  its  service 
the  imponderable  agents,  and  demonstrated  their  in- 
terconvertibility;  has  bestowed  priceless  blessings 
upon  the  living;  has  soothed  the  pillow  of  languishing 
humanity,  and  extended  its  welcome  offices  even  to 
the  grave.  It  has  given  us  an  idea  of  the  duration  of 
our  globe,  and  established  a  system  of  chronology  the 
immensity  of  which  we  endeavor  in  vain  to  compre- 
hend, where  centuries  are  as  nothing,  and  cycles  but 
fleeting  periods  of  time.  From  a  single  fossil  bone 
it  has  reproduced  the  form  and  described  the  habits 
of  the  monster  to  which,  in  prehistoric  ages,  it  be- 
longed. It  has  measured  the  movement  of  thought, 
which,  despite  its  proverbial  rapidity,  has  been  proved 
to  be  only  about  one  hundred  feet  a  second.  By  in- 
vestigation of  the  mental  phenomena  of  hypnotism 
and  telepathy,  it  has  added  to  the  evidence  which 
tends  to  establish  the  existence  of  the  Soul  of  the 
World.  It  has  taught  all  to  exert  the  proudest  pre- 
rogatives of  intelligence, — ^to  think,  to  doubt,  to  rea- 
son,— ^and  has  rescued  the  mind  of  man  long  buried 
beneath  the  accumulated  absurdities  of  venerable  tra- 
dition. These  great  results  it  has  achieved  in  its  child- 
hood, under  adverse  influences,  opposed  by  the  fanat- 
ical and  the  ignorant,  with  its  devotees  menaced  by 
the  dungeon,  the  scaffold,  and  the  fires  of  the  Inqui- 
sition; but  who,  with  that  stem,  unflinching  perse- 
verance which  at  last  reaps  its  reward  in  the  tardy 
honors  of  posterity,  have  pursued  their  way,  conscious 
of  the  nobility  of  their  calling,  and  fortified  by  the 
reflections  of  that  sublime  philosophy  which  *'  looks 
through  Nature  up  to  Nature's  God." 

Society  has  progressed  far  beyond  that  intellectual 
stage  when  the  comet  was  dreaded  as  a  harbinger  of 
universal  misfortune;   when  the  appearance  of  the 


582  History  of  the 

pestilence  was  considered  a  manifestation  of  the  wrafli 
of  the  Ahnighty ;  when  superstitious  fear  transformed 
every  floating  mist  into  a  cloak  for  goblins;  regarded 
every  rustling  of  the  foliage  as  an  evidence  of  super- 
natural presence;  saw  in  every  ebullition  of  gaseous 
water  a  mysterious  phenomenon,  in  every  subterra- 
nean rumble  an  omen  of  sinister  and  portentous 
augury.  This  emancipation  of  .the  human  intellect, 
this  impetus  to  every  expression  of  material  progress, 
cannot  be  attributed  to  ecclesiastical  inspiration. 
They  were  not  a  product  of  the  Crusades.  They 
were  not  the  effect  of  the  Reformation.  They  are 
not  the  work  of  Christianity,  whose  policy  has  indeed 
been  constantly  inimical  to  their  toleration  or  encour- 
agement. They  are  a  legitimate  consequence  of  the 
liberal  policy  adopted  and  perpetuated  by  the  Omme- 
yade  Ebalifs  throughout  their  magnificent  empire, 
whose  civilization  was  the  wonder,  as  its  power  was 
the  dread,  of  mediaeval  Europe. 

Modem  science  unquestionably  owes  everything  to 
Arab  genius.  From  the  mass  of  debased  supersti- 
tions, mummeries,  and  f  etichism,  entertained  and  cul- 
tivated by  the  Bedouin,  emerged,  as  has  been  seen,  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  mutual  relations  of  the 
different  parts  of  the  Universe  and  a  familiarity  with 
the  wonderful  phenomena  of  Nature.  From  the 
study  of  astrology  astronomy  was  evolved;  from 
alchemy,  chemistry;  from  geomancy,  geography; 
from  magic,  natural  philosophy.  The  principles  of 
government  by  law  were  established.  Anthropomor- 
phism was  discarded.  It  was  no  longer  attempted 
to  control  the  inexorable  operation  of  physical  agen- 
cies by  prayers  and  incantations.  In  one  especially 
important  respect  the  Moslems  differed  from  their 
European  predecessors.  The  Roman  system  and  the 
Gothic  polity  were  founded  entirely  upon  force;  Ara- 
bic power  was  largely  controlled  by  intellectual  con- 
ditions. 


MoosiSH  Empibe  in  Eubope  588 

With  this  great  people  the  love  of  scientific  investi- 
gation was  an  absorbing  passion.  It  pervaded  every 
department  of  government,  every  occupation  of  life, 
every  branch  of  study;  it  even  invaded  the  sanc- 
tuaries of  religion.  The  cultivation  of  letters,  the 
prosecution  of  experiments,  were,  for  eight  centuries, 
the  most  prominent  characteristics  of  the  Arab  race, 
the  highest  distinction  of  Mussulman  sovereigns. 
It  is  far  from  creditable  to  modem  civilization,  in- 
debted for  its  existence  to  these  pursuits,  to  ignore 
such  claims  to  gratitude  and  renown,  through  preju- 
dice against  the  religious  principles  of  those  who  en- 
,  gaged  in  them.  Surely  in  all  literature  there  exists 
no  nobler  or  more  elevated  sentiment  than  that  ex- 
pressed in  the  sajring  of  Mohammed, "'  A  mind  with- 
out culture  is  like  a  body  without  a  soul,  and  glory 
does  not  consist  in  riches,  but  in  knowledge." 


584  HiaTOEY  OF  TRB 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

MOORISH  ABT  IN  SOUTHERN  EUROPE 

786-1476 

Absolute  Ignorance  of  Art  among  the  Original  Arabs  —  Theti 
Debt  to  Antiquity — ^Their  Early  Architecture — Materials — 
Massive  Character  of  the  First  Edifices  of  the  Moslems — 
The  Horseshoe  Arch — Its  Phallic  Derivation — Progress  of 
Artistic  Embellishment — Its  Wonderful  Diversity — By%sar 
tine  Influence — Employment  of  Encaustic  Tiles — Mosaics 
of  the  Mosque  of  Cordova — Stuccoes — ^Their  Composition 
and  Infinite  Variety  of  Form  —  Stalactitic  Pendentives  — 
Woodwork  —  Its  Beautiful  and  Intricate  Designs  —  Disap- 
pearance of  Arabic  Architectural  Monuments  in  Sicily — 
Military  Structures  of  Mohammedan  Spain — ^Typical  Form 
of  the  Mosque — Its  Hebrew  Origin — Manifold  Derivation 
of  Hispano-Arab  Architecture  —  Development  of  Art  in 
Moorish  Spain — Its  Three  Epochs — The  Alhambra  its  Col- 
mination — Representation  of  Animal  Forms — Painting  and 
Sculpture  —  Mural  Decoration  —  The  Industrial  Arts  — 
Working  of  Metals — ^Arms — Engraved  Gems — Ceramics — 
The  Leathern  Tapestry  of  Cordova  —  Textile  Fabrics  — 
Calligraphy  and  Illumination — Destruction  of  die  Artistic 
Remains  of  the  Moors. 

The  origin,  development,  and  decadence  of  the 
arts  among  the  Arabs  present  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable aspects  of  mediaeval  history.  As  in  the 
architectural  monmnents  of  every  people  can  be  read 
the  chronicle  of  its  religion,  its  government,  and  its 
manners,  so  the  scanty  memorials  of  the  Spanish  and 
Sicilian  Moslems,  which  the  destructive  accidents  of 
foreign  and  domestic  violence  and  the  intemperate 
zeal  of  superstition  have  permitted  to  descend  to  pos- 
terity, constitute  an  invaluable  record  of  Ihe  canons 
of  their  faith,  the  customs  of  their  social  and  Intel- 


I 


MooBiSH  Empdus  m  Eubofe  685 

lectual  life,  the  growth  and  consolidation  of  their  won- 
derful empire.  From  the  remotest  antiquity  to  the 
advent  of  Mohammed  in  the  seventh  century  nothing 
worthy  of  the  name  of  architecture  existed  in  the 
Arabian  Peninsula.  The  very  name  of  that  art,  which 
implies  a  settled  and  permanent  habitation,  was  antag- 
onistic to  the  habits  and  the  traditions  of  a  nomadic 
existence.  As  a  rule,  the  nature  of  the  country,  the 
diaracter  of  the  soil,  the  scarcity  of  water,  the  diffi- 
culties of  intercommunication,  were  insuperable  ob- 
stacles to  the  foundation  of  cities  and  the  promotion 
of  mercantile  and  manufacturing  industry.  The 
roving  Bedouin  regarded  with  aversion  and  contempt 
all  those  whose  avocations  necessitated  a  fixed  resi- 
dence, and  whose  security  was  dependent  upon  walls 
and  towers.  His  jealousy  of  power,  which  based  the 
authority  of  his  sheik  upon  a  nominal  allegiance,  to 
be  thrown  off  or  resumed  at  will,  was  repugnant  to 
and  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  principles  which  in- 
sure the  preservation  of  established  government  or 
the  maintenance  of  regular  communities  organized 
for  the  common  protection  and  benefit.  It  is  true 
that  in  the  kingdoms  of  Hira  and  Yemen,  which 
formed  respectively  the  northern  and  southern  ex- 
tremities of  Arabia,  towns  of  considerable  magnitude 
existed.  Mecca,  the  revered  centre  of  a  widely  dif- 
fused idolatrous  system,  could  boast  a  numerous  pop- 
ulation; and  the  commerce  of  the  Red  Sea  and  the 
Persian  Gulf  sustained  upon  those  waters  a  few  insig- 
nificant and  miserable  seaports;  but  in  none  of  these 
settlements — ^which  scarcely  deserved  the  name  of 
cities — ^was  to  be  found  a  single  example  of  archi- 
tectural symmetry  or  magnificence.  Everywhere  c^e 
throughout  the  illimitable  area  of  the  Peninsula  ap- 
peared a  monotonous  solitude  of  barren  rocks  and 
shifting  sands,  unrelieved  by  vegetation,  unpeopled 
by  human  beings,  save  the  ferocious  occupants  of  the 


586  History  of  the 

Bedouin  camp  or  the  traders  who  guarded  the  strag- 
gling caravan.  Agriculture,  the  substantial  basis  of 
every  nation's  prosperity,  was  manifestly  impossible 
in  the  Desert  Mechanical  ingenuity,  with  sudi  a 
limited  field  for  its  exercise,  was  necessarily  reduced 
to  the  simplest  apparatus  which  could  produce  the 
most  ordinary  and  primitive  results. 

At  long  and  irregular  intervals  merchants  and  pil- 
grims brought  to  Mecca  and  Medina  uncertain  and 
romantic  accounts  of  the  pomp  and  luxury  of  distant 
empires.  Compared  with  the  edifices  of  the  nations 
which  inhabited  them,  the  dwelling  of  the  wealthiest 
Arabian — of  mean  appearance,  suggestive  of  little 
comfort,  utterly  devoid  of  taste,  and  with  no  attempt 
at  ornamentation — ^was  hardly  superior  to  a  hovel. 
The  famous  Kaaba  was  itself  an  insignificant  struc- 
ture, deriving  its  importance  solely  from  its  sacred 
traditions,  a  mere  barbarian  depository  of  idols. 

As  was  natural,  and,  indeed,  inevitable,  the  Arab, 
in  his  career  of  victory,  absorbed  and  insensibly  appro- 
priated the  ideas  and  knowledge  of  the  subjugated 
races  who  were  his  superiors  in  the  arts  of  civilization. 
This  process  was  greatly  facilitated  by  the  wholesale 
proselytism  which  was  one  of  the  principal  incidents 
of  Moslem  conquest,  and  which  led  not  infrequently 
to  the  practical  apostasy  of  entire  nations  and  their 
enlistment  under  the  banners  of  Islam.  In  Eg3rpt, 
Syria,  Persia,  the  architectural  memorials  of  the 
Arabs  partook  of  the  characteristics  of  the  race  whose 
influence  predominated  in*  the  regions  subjected  to 
their  authority,  just  as  had  been  the  case  with  all  tiie 
victorious  nations  that  had  preceded  them.  In  Spain, 
however,  and  also  in  Sicily,  so  far  as  we  are  able  to 
conjecture,  a  greater  originality  distinguished  the 
works  of  the  conquerors  than  is  to  be  observed  in 
other  countries.  No  well-defined  connection  with 
Oriental  architecture  can  be  detected  in  the  splendid 


MooBiSH  Empibe  m  Eubofb  587 

vestiges  of  taste  and  elegance  which  have  survived 
their  dominion  nearly  five  hundred  years.  In  the 
land  illuminated  by  his  genius  and  enriched  by  his 
industry,  the  Spanish  Moslem  is  forgotten  or  abso- 
lutely unknown  to  the  majority  of  the  people;  his 
memory  is  execrated  as  that  of  an  infidel;  his  works 
are  denounced  as  barbaric;  the  effects  and  the  influ- 
ence of  his  civilization  are  disputed  or  depreciated ;  his 
temples  have  been  mutilated  or  entirely  destroyed; 
his  palaces  transformed  into  the  squalid  haunts  of 
mendicity  and  vice;  while  the  leather-clad  shepherd 
watches  his  flock  on  the  once  famous  site  of  gardens 
adorned  with  magnificent  villas  and  beautiful  with 
all  the  luxuriant  and  fanciful  horticultiu*e  of  the  East. 
The  Hispano-Arab  age  of  architecture  embraces  a 
period  of  six  hundred  and  ninety  years  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Mosque  of  Cordova  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury to  the  completion  of  the  Alhambra  in  the  fif- 
teenth. In  that  time  it  passed  through  many  phases, 
whose  peculiarities  are  clearly  indicated  by  its  sur- 
viving monuments,  but  whose  order  of  progression  is 
imperfect  and  whose  limits  are  not  accurately  defined. 
Although  the  great  temple  of  Islam,  raised  by  Abd- 
al-Rahman,  was  largely  composed  of  materials  taken 
from  the  remains  of  classic  antiquity,  Arabic  archi- 
tecture borrowed  nothing  in  design  from  the  stupen- 
dous Roman  ruins  of  the  Peninsula.  Admiration  of 
their  proportions  and  beauty  had  awakened  a  desire, 
not  so  much  to  imitate  them,  as  to  create  something 
with  which  they  might  worthily  be  compared;  edifices 
which  would  correspond  with  the  tastes  and  neces- 
sities of  an  impetuous,  highly  organized,  and  passion- 
ate race,  immoderately  fond  of  variety  and  adorn- 
ment, easily  intoxicated  with  religious  enthusiasm, 
devoted  to  the  arts  and  whims  of  riotous  sensuality. 
The  gigantic  mass  of  the  pyramid,  the  elaborately 
sculptured  facade  of  the  Persian  palace,  the  elegant 


588  HiSTOEY  OF  THB 

forms  of  the  Grecian  temple  and  the  Roman  tri- 
umphal arch,  might  excite  the  awe  of  the  Arab;  bat 
they  appealed  but  slightly  to  his  ardent  sensibilities, 
and  to  his  enthusiastic  nature  which  wantoned  in  the 
creation  of  a  thousand  extravagant  and  fantastic 
visions.  Ideas  evoked  by  the  masterpieces  of  an- 
tiquity, however,  opened  a  new  and  alluring  prospect 
to  his  talents  and  his  ambition,  and  he  soon  became 
as  proficient  in  the  most  durable  of  the  arts  of  peace 
as  he  had  been  in  the  prosecution  of  conquest  and  the 
extension  of  dominion. 

No  people  ever  utilized  to  sudi  an  extent  as  the 
Arabs  the  materials  perfected  by  the  skill  and  ilie 
labor  of  their  predecessors;  and,  it  may  be  added, 
none  in  ancient  or  in  modem  times  enjoyed  such 
opportunities  for,  and  reaped  such  benefits  from,  the 
ignoble  work  of  spoliation.  From  the  Bay  of  Bis- 
cay to  the  Himalayas,  sumptuous  palaces  and  temples 
were  constructed  by  the  Moslem  conqueror  from  the 
splendid  relics  of  Egyptian,  Grecian,  Roman,  Sas- 
sanian,  and  Indian  civilization.  Great  capitals  rose 
near  the  sites  of  cities  whose  origin  was  lost  in  an- 
tiquity, whose  history  went  back  to  the  beginning  of 
the  world.  These  works,  while  they  displayed  rather 
the  consciousness  of  power  than  the  evidences  of  taste, 
were  eminently  useful  in  laying  the  foundation  of 
new  forms  of  architecture,  whose  decorations  were 
to  exhibit  forms  of  unparalleled  magnificence  and 
beauty.  The  plans  of  these  structures  were  at  first 
of  the  simplest  character,  their  ornamentation  coarse 
and  baj-baric.  It  was  only  when  the  supply  of  mate- 
rials, great  as  it  was,  became  exhausted,  and  the  Arab 
architect  was  restricted  to  the  efi^orts  of  his  own  un- 
aided genius,  that  was  developed  that  peculiar  style, 
which,  difi^ering  in  its  arrangement  in  every  coun- 
try, yet  preserved  a  general  resemblance  in  all,  a  type 
suggestive  of  the  poetic  rhapsodies  of  liie  Koran  and 


M00SI8H  Empire  in  Eusofe  589 

fhe  exigencies  of  a  system  of  domestic  seclusion  and 
mystery;  whose  luxury  recalled,  by  contrast,  the  heat 
and  privations  of  the  Desert;  whose  legends  breathed 
a  spirit  of  pious  resignation  and  gratitude;  whose 
adornments  bewildered  the  eye  with  their  complexity 
of  form  and  variety  of  color;  whose  apartments  were 
admirably  contrived  for  the  gratification  of  all  the 
caprices  of  unbridled  indulgence.  The  intimate  con- 
nections and  common  belief  of  the  different  portions 
of  the  great  Moslem  empire  disseminated  far  and 
wide  the  various  stores  of  learning  and  experience 
acquired  by  each;  the  principles  of  every  branch  of 
art  became  more  thoroughly  understood,  and  their 
application  facilitated  and  promoted  through,  the 
encouragement  afforded  by  increasing  wealth  and 
royal  liberality.  The  early  predilection  displayed  by 
the  Arab  student  for  the  exact  sciences  contributed 
largely  to  the  development  and  perfection  of  archi- 
tectural excellence. 

At  first,  the  art  of  building  had  been  merely  con- 
structive, without  embellishment,  merit,  or  original- 
ity; thematerials,  the  plunder  of  antiquity;  the  style, 
a  feeble  and  debased  imitation  of  the  simplest  parts 
of  those  noble  piles  which  had  been  the  admiration  and 
the  glory  of  the  ancient  world.  Familiarity  with  these 
models,  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  mathe- 
matical science,  a  spirit  of  emulation  excited  by  the 
hope  of  substantial  reward,  erelong  produced  a  race 
of  builders  whose  creations  denote  a  new  and  splen- 
did epoch  in  the  history  of  architecture.  As  in  the 
beginning,  no  conditions  could  have  been  more  un- 
favorable to  the  development  of  this  art;  in  the  end, 
on  the  contrary,  no  people  ever  attained  to  greater 
distinction  in  the  graceful  outlines,  the  exquisite 
beauty,  the  elaborate  decoration  of  their  edifices.  The 
importance  of  these  results  is  manifest  from  the  cir- 
cumstance that  they  were  ordinarily  achieved  by  the 


540  History  of  the 

use  of  the  most  homely  materials  and  by  the  applica- 
tion of  the  simplest  rules  of  geometry. 

The  Arabs  of  Africa  and  Spain  usually  employed 
in  their  more  massive  constructions  a  conglomerate 
material  composed  of  lime,  day,  and  pebbles,  called 
"tabW  or  "tapia,"  which  was  well  known  to  the 
Romans  and  is  mentioned  by  Pliny.  This  mixture, 
which  formed  the  body  of  the  edifice  and  in  time 
acquired  an  extraordinary  solidity  and  hardness,  was 
often  faced  with  dressed  stone  or  a  coating  of  cement, 
which  united  compactly  with  the  central  mass;  and 
whose  excellent  quality  is  attested  by  specimens  of 
masonry  that  have  existed,  practically  intact,  for  the 
long,  period  of  eleven  centuries.  In  some  instances, 
large  bricks,  often  deeply  grooved  to  admit  the  mor- 
tar, were  used  instead  of  tapia;  in  others,  the  entire 
wall  was  composed  of  hewn  stone;  the  Mosque  of 
Cordova  presents  examples  of  all  three  of  these  meth- 
ods of  construction.  Where  the  day  of  the  material 
contained  oxide  of  iron,  which  was  sometimes  the  case, 
it  imparted  to  the  building  a  delicate  tint,  like  that  of 
the  petals  of  a  rose,  as  in  the  Alhambra,  whidi  derived 
its  name  from  the  color  of  its  walls. 

The  excellent  preservation  which  characterizes  the 
Moorish  monuments  of  the  Peninsula  after  centuries 
of  spoliation  and  neglect  attests  the  substantial  nature 
of  their  foimdations,  and  the  care  and  skill  whidi 
must  have  been  employed  in  their  erection.  Many  of 
these  structures,  from  their  massive  proportions,  their 
projecting  buttresses,  their  elevated  towers  and  bris- 
tling ramparts,  suggested  rather  a  defensive  fortress 
than  the  abode  of  princely  luxury  or  a  temple  dedi- 
cated to  the  God  of  mercy  and  of  peace.  While  no 
creed  was  so  much  abhorred  by  the  Arab  as  that  of 
the  Magi,  still  he  did  not  disdain  to  crown  the  sum- 
mits of  his  mosques  and  minarets  with  the  flame 
shaped  battlements  of  Persia,  emblematic  of  the  ado- 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  541 

ration  of  Fire.  The  Mosque  of  Cordova,  the  Giralda 
of  Seville,  and  many  of  the  edifices  of  Northern 
Africa  display  this  striking  and  favorite  ornament, 
which  was  preserved  throughout  the  entire  Moslem 
domination  in  the  Peninsula,  and  glitters  alike  in  the 
mosaics  of  the  Alhambra,  in  the  golden  embroidery 
of  textile  fabrics,  and  among  the  rich  and  splendid 
illuminations  of  the  Koran. 

In  both  the  strengthening  and  the  embellishment 
of  his  work,  no  artist  ever  made  use  of  the  arch  with 
greater  effect  than  did  the  Moslem.  The  variations 
of  its  curve  indicate  successively  the  different  phases 
assumed  by  Hispano-Arab  architecture  from  the 
eighth  to  the  fifteenth  century.  Some  of  its  adapta- 
tions, for  instance,  that  of  the  ajimeZi  or  double  win- 
dow divided  by  slender  colunms,  probably  originated 
in  Moorish  Spain,  whose  buildings  offer  exquisite 
examples  of  its  employment  for  the  combined  pur- 
poses of  utility  and  decoration.  The  earliest  arch, 
and  the  one  most  frequently  adopted  during  the  Om- 
meyade  Khalif ate,  was  the  horseshoe  form,  whose 
symbolic  derivatidn  ascends  to  the  primitive  ages  of 
phallicism  and  recalls  the  homage  once  paid  to  the 
vivifying  principles  of  Nature.  The  emblems  of  that 
worship,  a  worship  whose  impressions  Christianity 
could  modify  but  was  unable  to  extirpate,  were,  from 
the  earliest  times,  regarded  as  potent  talismans  against 
every  species  of  malign  or  demoniac  influence.  In  the 
Middle  Ages,  European  Christians  wore  these  em- 
blems as  amulets;  they  carved  them  upon  the  altars 
of  their  shrines;  they  perpetuated  them  in, their  spires 
and  the  pinnacles  of  their  cathedrals;  they  revered 
them  in  the  sacred  forms  of  the  cross  and  the  crucifix. 
It  has  been  from  time  immemorial  a  custom  in  North- 
ern Africa  to  place  by  the  entrances  of  houses,  as  a 
security  against  the  evil-eye,  the  symbol  familiar  to 
Hindu  superstition  as  the  Yoni.    From  this  ancient 


M2  History  of  ths 

practice  was  derived  the  sweeping  curve  of  the  ultra- 
semicircular  arch,  which  occupies  such  an  important 
place  in  Arab  architecture,  and  whose  appearance  was 
considered  an  augury  of  good  fortune  to  all  who 
passed  the  portals  of  Moslem  palace,  mosque,  or  pri- 
vate residence.  The  facility  of  modification  which 
this  object  affords  has  caused  it  to  be  represented 
under  a  great  variety  of  forms;  and  the  persistence 
of  a  custom  whose  origin  is  popularly  unknown  and 
whose  peculiar  significance  has  long  been  forgotten 
is  demonstrated  by  the  practice  of  fixing  a  horseshoe 
above  the  doors  of  dwellings,  as  a  sign  of  auspicious 
greeting,  still  prevalent  in  many  parts  of  the  world. 

The  other  Indian  symbol,  the  Lingam,  sculptured 
upon  the  eternal  rock-temples  of  Hindustan,  car- 
ried by  the  Egyptian  priests  in  solemn  procession 
during  the  festivals  of  Osiris,  carved  upon  the 
Roman  Termini,  and  fashioned  into  the  crest  of 
the  cap  peculiar  to  the  Doges  of  Venice,  it  may  be 
added,  appears,  to-day,  delineated  with  startling  fidel- 
ity to  nature  upon  the  coinage  of  the  most  practical 
and  progressive  of  modem  nations, — ^the  United 
States  of  America. 

The  survival  of  the  emblems  and  ceremonies  of 
phallicism  in  both  the  Christian  and  Mohammedan 
systems  demonstrates  the  ineradicable  influence  that 
worship  has  always  maintained  over  the  superstitious 
of  every  class,  a  class  whose  members  are  generally 
the  most  zealous  for  those  observances  which  they  do 
not  comprehend;  and  presents  one  of  the  most  curious 
and  entertaining  episodes  in  the  annals  of  human  in- 
consistency and  unquestioning  devotion. 

The  employment  of  the  arch,  at  first  solely  utili- 
tarian, with  tiie  progressive  development  of  artistic 
conceptions,  became  in  the  end  merely  a  means  of 
architectural  adornment.  The  effect  of  the  delicate 
filigree  arcades  of  the  Alhambra,  whose  fragile  ma- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  548 

terials  seem  inadequate  to  support  the  cornices  and 
entablatures  apparently  resting  upon  them,  is  illusory ; 
they  are  mere  structural  fictions  of  the  Moorish  de- 
signer. A  regular  series  of  progressions  is  traceable 
from  the  bold  horseshoe  sweep  of  the  early  khalif ate, 
through  the  engrailed,  the  slightly  pointed,  the  poly- 
foil,  the  ogival  arches,  to  the  highly  ornate  and  grace- 
ful curves  of  the  palace  of  the  Alhamares.  Through- 
out all  its  modifications,  however,  certain  character- 
istics survived;  among  them  the  spring  of  one  or 
several  arches  from  a  bracket  formed  by  the  mould- 
ing of  the  capital,  an  arrangement  peculiar  to  Arab 
architecture,  and  preserved  long  after  the  arch  had 
ceased  to  be  an  essential  element  of  its  construction. 
Every  variation  of  the  segment  of  a  circle  which 
human  ingenuity  could  devise  furnished  new  resources 
to  the  Arab.  The  horseshoe  form  was  more. or  less 
pronounced;  the  Roman  received  fresh  embellishment 
at  his  hands;  the  ogival  was  plain,  festooned,  or  ser- 
rated. The  colunms  were  unusually  slender,  after 
their  type  had  been  definitely  established;  in  the  edi- 
fices first  erected,  they  were  necessarily  dissimilar  in 
dimensions,  in  materid,  in  form,  in  color,  and  in  oma- 
mentation,  constituting,  as  they  did,  the  spoil  of  a 
hundred  edifices,  collected  in  many  and  widely  sepa- 
rated countries.  In  the  Mosque  of  Cordova,  the  most 
striking  instance  of  this  indiscriminate  employment 
of  the  plunder  of  antiquity,  the  columns  had  no  bases, 
and  were  disposed  at  random  without  regard  to  the 
rules  of  architectural  symmetry. 

The  weight  of  evidence  seems  to  fully  justify  the 
opinion  that  the  ogival  or  pointed  arch,  whose  adapta- 
tion is  so  prominent  a  feature  of  Gothic  construction, 
was  introduced  into  Europe  either  through  Sicily  or 
Spain.  Its  invention  cannot  be  attributed  to  the 
Arabs.  It  was  known  in  Asia  long  before  the  time 
of  Mohammed.    It  appears  in  the  ruined  palace  of 


544  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

the  Persian  kings  at  Ctesiphon.  It  is  by  no  means 
certain  that  it  was  not  used  in  Sicily  before  the  inva- 
sion of  the  Arabs.  The  latter  were  familiar  with  its 
form  before  the  ninth  century,  for  it  was  employed 
extensively  in  the  Mosque  of  Tulun  at  Cairo. 

The  capital  offers  as  great  a  variety  in  form  and 
decoration  as  the  arch;  in  some,  the  Corinthian,  in 
others,  the  Composite  order,  prevailed;  many  again 
presented  the  most  ornate  and  fantastic  patterns,  ex- 
amples of  the  florid  and  decadent  taste  of  Constan- 
tinople; in  the  last  period  golden  inscriptions  from 
the  Koran  in  the  graceful  Arabic  script  replaced  the 
Ionian  volute  and  the  classic  acanthus. 

In  the  art  of  mural  decoration  the  Arab  stands 
alone  and  unrivalled.  The  exterior  of  his  edifices,  as 
a  rule,  was  bare  and  sombre,  but  within,  the  glowing 
imagination  of  the  artist  revelled  in  a  myriad  forms 
of  exquisite  taste  and  beauty.  A  religious  system, 
whose  simple  doctrines  appealed  rather  to  the  heart 
than  to  the  senses;  social  customs,  whose  jealous  ob- 
servance forbade  even  the  appearance  of  publicity, 
screened  from  the  eyes  of  the  curious  the  celebration 
of  religious  ceremonies  and  the  instructive  exhibition 
of  domestic  life  and  manners.  For  these  reasons,  few 
openings  appeared  in  Moslem  dwellings;  windows 
were  discouraged  by  the  traditions  of  the  harem;  a 
single  door  was  generally  considered  sufficient;  and 
even  the  approaches  to  the  mosques,  whose  crowds 
of  worshippers  necessitated  many  entrances,  were  so 
contrived  that  the  interiors  were  not  visible  from  the 
street. 

In  some  cases  where  the  peculiar  sacredness  of  the 
structure  appeared  to  justify  a  prodigality  of  adorn- 
ment, the  Spanish  Arab  departed  from  the  rule  which 
he  ordinarily  observed.  The  twenty-one  portals  of 
the  great  temple  of  Cordova  were  surmounted  by  or- 
namental panels,  composed  of  bricks  and  stucco  dis- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  546 

PQsed  in  arabesque  designs,  one  of  the  earliest  forms 
of  this  charming  method  of  mm'al  decoration.  Here 
also  are  exhibited  the  first  examples  of  the  marble  lat- 
tice, whose  interstices  admit  the  air  but  exclude  the 
light;  and  of  the  ajimez,  or  niche-shaped  window,  with 
its  sweeping  border  and  diminutive  columns  of  verde- 
antique  and  alabaster.  Carved  in  the  lattices  and  min- 
gled with  the  Persian  ornaments  of  the  doorways  is 
to  be  seen  the  ancient  suastika,  or  Sanskrit  cross,  sym- 
bolic of  happiness  and  moral  regeneration,  and  re- 
vered by  the  Aryan  race  as  a  precious  talisman  more 
than  a  thousand  years  before  tiie  Christian  era.  The 
recurrence  of  this  emblem  upon  the  walls  of  a  Semitic 
temple — ^now  dedicated  to  a  worship  to  which  the 
tenets  of  both  Mohammedan  and  Hindu  are  equally 
abhorrent — ^is  ironically  suggestive  of  the  instability 
of  religious  institutions.  Another  singular  circum- 
stance is  the  appearance  of  the  Latin  cross  upon  some 
of  the  capitals,  imquestionably  sculptured  there  before 
the  erection  of  the  building.  When  the  antipathy  of 
Moslems  to  the  Christian  emblem  of  salvation  is  re- 
membered, this  fact  becomes  not  only  extraordinary, 
but  inexplicable.  The  Giralda  of  Seville,  now  believed 
to  have  been  raised  as  a  memorial  of.  conquest,  and 
to  have  served  the  double  purpose  of  minaret  and  ob- 
servatory, in  the  eyes  of  the  Andalusian  Moslems  only 
inferior  in  sanctity  to  the  Djalma  of  Cordova,  dis- 
plays, to  a  remarkable  degree,  the  talent  of  the  Moor- 
ish artist  in  the  work  of  mural  embellishment.  Its 
majestic  proportions,  the  unique  and  lavish  character 
of  its  ornamentation,  extended  its  renown  to  the  ut- 
termost regions  of  tiie  East  and  made  it  the  archi- 
tectural pride  and  glory  of  Mohammedan  Spain. 
Both  it  and  the  Mosque  of  Cordova  are  known  to 
have  been  painted;  the  interstices  of  the  elegant  tra- 
cery of  brick  arabesques  which  covers  its  sides  are 
said  to  have  presented  the  brilliant  hues  of  scarlet  and 

You  JllrSB 


546  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

azure,  whfle  the  projecting  designs  were  gilded,  the 
whole  forming  a  blazing  mass  of  color  whose  com- 
binations must  have  produced  an  inconceivably  gor- 
geous effect. 

The  'ByiAuMne  derivation  of  many  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  early  Hispano-Arab  architecture  is  em- 
phasized in  the  6iralda»  whose  construction,  aside  from 
its  decorations,  is  almost  the  counterpart  of  that  of 
the  Campanile  of  Venice,  with  which  it  was  practically 
contemporaneous.  Inclined  planes,  or  ramps,  instead 
of  stairways,  afford,  in  both,  access  to  the  summit; 
and,  while  the  Giralda  is  by  far  the  more  beautiful, 
their  general  similarity  in  plan,  dimensions,  and  ap- 
pearance cannot  fail  to  impress  tibe  most  heedless 
observer. 

On  the  two  principal  structures  of  Moorish  Spain 
devoted  to  the  service  of  religion,  the  use  of  enamelled 
tiles  as  an  element  of  external  decoration,  an  art 
whose  latest  adaptations  were  also  peculiar  to  the 
Arab  and  which  was  subsequently  carried  to  such  a 
degree  of  perfection,  is  first  to  be  remarked:  The 
Mosque  affords  but  a  few  coarse  and  ill-arranged 
specimens;  those  of  the  Giralda  are  of  far  superior 
material  and  finish,  and  from  the  comparatively  small 
number  remaining  we  can  form  some  idea  of  the  ap- 
pearance of  this  magnificent  tower  when,  intact,  its 
summit  was  girdled  with  these  brilliant  ornaments, 
whose  polished  surfaces  flashed  like  jewels  in  the 
Andalusian  sunlight. 

The  improvement  in  the  manufacture  and  dispo- 
sition of  encaustic  tiles  is  an  index  of  the  progress  of 
the  Spanish  Moslems  in  the  mechanical  ^*ts,  as  well 
as  in  the  application  of  the  principles  of  architectural 
ornamentation.  During  the  final  period  of  tlieir  do- 
minion in  the  Peninsula,  the  use  of  tilework  was  prac- 
tically confined  to  interiors,  and  it  was  in  the  Alham- 
bra  that  it  attained  its  highest  development    In  the 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  547 

bewildering  complexity  of  patterns,  in  the  accuracy 
with  whidb  their  minute  pieces  are  united,  in  the  va- 
riety of  colors,  and  in  the  exquisite  taste  with  which 
they  are  combined,  the  mosaics  of  that  palace  are  abso- 
lutely unapproachable  by  any  similar  work  which  has 
ever  been  produced  by  human  skill.  Their  surfaces 
have  all  the  brilliancy  and  polish  of  the  finest  por- 
celain. The  edges  of  fragments  which  have  been 
detached  show  marks  of  the  file,  evidence  of  the 
painstaking  and  conscientious  labors  of  the  Moorish 
artisan.  These  enamels  are  remarkable  not  only  for 
their  elegance,  but  for  the  radical  difference  which 
they  present  to  the  mosaics  employed  during  the 
existence  of  the  Khalifate  of  Cordova.  The  latter 
were  not  ceramic,  but  were  prepared  by  laying  the 
colors  upon  the  wall,  and  then  covering  them  with 
minute  cubes  of  glass  embedded  in  a  transparent 
cement. 

The  Mihrab  of  the  Great  Mosque  shows  what  re- 
sults can  be  accomplished  by  this  simple  process.  In 
its  rich  panels,  arches,  and  cupolas,  in  the  belts  of  in- 
scriptions glowing  with  a  score  of  brilliant  hues,  in 
the  graceful  interlacing  arabesques,  the  crystal  mo- 
saics, in  themselves  imperishable,  shine  with  undimin- 
ished lustre  after  a  lapse  of  more  than  nine  himdred 
years.  The  most  celebrated  productions  of  this  de- 
scription extant  in  the  churches  and  mosques  of  Con- 
stantinople and  in  the  cathedrals  of  Venice  and  Ra- 
venna bear  no  comparison,  save  in  the  character  of 
the  materials  employed,  to  those  which  adorn  the 
sanctuary  of  the  famous  Moslem  temple.  The  de- 
signs were  undoubtedly  traced  by  Arab  artists,  whose 
versatility  is  disclosed  by  their  extraordinary  profi- 
ciency in  an  art  with  which  they  must  have  been  hith- 
erto unfamiliar,  and  in  whose  successful  manipulation 
they  surpassed  the  masterpieces  of  Byzantine  genius. 
No  explanation  has  been  given  to  account  for  the 


548  HiSTOBT  OF  THE 

sudden  disuse  of  a  method  of  architectural  embellish- 
ment at  its  culmination,  in  an  example  whidi  has 
called  forth  the  praise  of  thirty  generations;  but  it 
is  a  well-established  fact  that,  after  the  destruction 
of  the  khalif  ate  in  the  tenth  century,  tbe  employment 
of  Byzantine  mosaics,  the  most  exquisite  of  the  orna- 
mental processes  known  to  the  Spanish  Arabs,  disap- 
peared forever  from  the  Peninsula.  It  may  have 
been  that  its  exotic  derivation  was  to  some  extent 
responsible  for  its  sudden  and  absolute  extinction. 
The  soseifesa,  from  the  Greek  ^^t^kkji^,  '"made  of 
little  stones,"  as  this  mosaic  was  known  to  the  Moors, 
was  a  distinctive  product  of  Byzantine  ingenuity. 
The  material  destined  for  the  Mosque,  as  well  as  the 
workmen  skilled  in  its  use,  were  sent  to  the  Ebalif 
Al-Hakem  II.  by  the  Greek  Emperor  of  Constanti- 
nople; and  it  was  from  these  foreigners  that  Uie 
Moors  learned  the  leading  principles  of  an  art  which, 
long  practised  on  the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus,  had 
now  become  familiar  to  many  cities  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean coast.  The  jealous  pride  of  the  Arab — ^who 
was  not  averse  to  borrowing  architectural  ideas  from 
different  nations  that  were  his  masters  in  the  sdenoe 
of  construction,  and  many  of  which  bowed  under  his 
yoke  as  tributaries — ^revolted  perhaps  at  the  open  ap- 
propriation of  an  entire  system  from  an  enemy  of 
his  religion,  and  especially  at  the  confession  of  intel- 
lectual inferiority  ibat  such  an  act  might  imply. 

In  the  perfection  of  enamelled  mosaics,  however, 
his  originality  was  undisputed;  his  artistic  concep- 
tions were  untrammelled;  and  the  proofs  of  his  crea- 
tive genius  are  written  upon  walls  and  columns  which 
have  excited  the  admiring  wonder  of  architectural 
critics  from  countries  imknown  to  both  Europe  and 
Asia  at  the  date  of  their  completion.  The  dadoes  of 
the  Alhambra,  its  pavement  and  its  roofs,  before  sys- 
tematic neglect  and  vandalism  had  accomplished  their 


MooBiSH  Emfibe  in  Eubope  549 

destmctave  work,  undoubtedly  presented  a  spectade 
of  unique  and  dazzling  splendor.  The  total  disap- 
pearance of  at  least  one-third  of  the  palace,  and  the 
shameless  mutilation  of  the  rest,  have  unfortunately 
deprived  the  architect  of  standards  of  comparison  at 
different  epochs,  by  which  the  various  steps  in  the 
progressive  development  of  the  application  of  en- 
caustic tiles  might  be  definitely  traced. 

The  most  distinguishing  characteristic  of  Arabic 
mural  ornamentation,  however,  is  the  stucco  work, 
which  seems  to  have  been  of  contemporaneous  origin 
with  the  earliest  monuments  of  the  khalif  ate.  Such 
was  its  prodigious  improvement  that  specimens  of  the 
rude  tracery  executed  in  the  eighth  century  on  the 
walls  of  the  Djalma  of  Cordova,  and  the  delicate, 
lace-like  effects  produced  in  the  fourteenth  by  the 
builders  of  the  iVJhambra,  bear  to  each  other  scarcely 
a  single  point  of  resemblance.  The  secret  of  the  com- 
position of  this  material,  which  in  time  became  as  hard 
and  durable  as  stone,  is  lost.  It  is  supposed  to  have 
been  made  of  pulverized  marble,  lime,  and  gypsum, 
mixed  in  certain  proportions  with  the  whites  of  eggs, 
and  then,  while  in  an  almost  fluid  condition,  run  into 
moulds.  It  contained  some  substance  noxious  to  all 
insects,  for  neither  flies  nor  spiders  are  ever  noticed 
on  the  walls  of  the  Moorish  palace.  This  singular 
property,  which  has  contributed  as  much  as  any  other 
cause  to  the  preservation  of  this  precious  monument 
of  Arab  art,  has  been  attributed  by  popular  tradition 
to  the  presence  of  garlic  in  the  mortar;  but  the  odor 
of  that  plant,  however  pungent,  must  certainly  have 
been  dissipated  in  the  course  of  years;  and  no  sub- 
stance known  to  modem  chemistry  will,  if  exposed  to 
atmospheric  influences,  retain  for  centuries  its  quali- 
ties unimpaired.  The  moulding  of  the  stucco  orna- 
ments facilitated  their  reproduction,  and  the  multi-. 
plication  of  an  infinite  variety  of  designs.    Of  the 


550  HiSTOST  OF  THE 

latter,  Contreras  counted  one  hundred  and  fifty-two, 
all  difi^erent,  in  a  single  apartment,  the  HaU  of  Co- 
mares  in  the  Alhambra.  Their  effect  was  that  of  the 
richest  embroidered  tapestry,  an  illusion  heightened 
by  the  hangings  of  embossed  and  painted  lealiier 
often  suspended  beneath  them.  The  peculiar  textile 
resemblance  of  Arab  mural  decoration  owed  its  origin 
to  the  drapery  of  the  tent,  and  is  a  reminiscence  of 
the  nomadic  life  of  the  Desert. 

In  the  presence  of  this  gorgeous  embroidery  in 
stone,  now  resembling  tissues  of  silken  and  gold  bro- 
cade, and  again  assuming  the  delicate  texture  of  lace, 
whose  filmy  and  transparent  meshes  almost  seem  to 
move  with  every  passing  breeze,  all  appearance  of 
solidity  is  lost.  This  pleasing  artistic  deception  ex- 
tends even  to  the  construction  of  the  arches,  which 
appear  to  sustain  the  weights  resting  upon  their 
curves  by  the  influence  of  some  mysterious  principle 
unknown  to  the  laws  of  mechanics.  The  explanation 
of  the  apparent  phenomenon,  however,  disclosed  a 
method  as  simple  as  it  is  ingenious.  Upon  the  capi- 
tals were  placed  light  but  strong  wooden  beams, 
which,  covered  with  plaster,  were  lost  in  the  maze 
of  ornament,  while  they  formed  the  real  support  of 
the  arcades  whose  substantial  character  is  demon- 
strated by  their  successful  resistance  to  the  violence 
of  the  elements  and  the  vandalism  of  man  through 
many  centuries.  The  interiors  of  the  apartments  of 
public  institutions  and  royal  habitations  were  covered 
with  this  kind  of  ornament  disposed  in  high  relief, 
and  in  which  the  stalactitic  or  pendentive  vault — 
original  with  the  Moorish  architect — constituted  a 
most  attractive  and  prominent  feature. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  enumerate  the  wonderful 
variety  of  forms  which  this  plastic  material  was  made 
to  assume  under  the  skilful  manipulation  of  the  artist 
Diminutive  colonnades,  surmoimted  by  delicate  en- 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  551 

grailed  arches,  medallions,  festoons  and  wreaths,  the 
armorial  bearings  and  mottoes  of  the  Alhamares,  Ara- 
bic texts  and  legends  which  can  be  read  from  right 
or  left  with  equal  facility,  and  geometrical  designs, 
whose  elements  are  susceptible  of  an  infinite  number 
of  changes  and  combinations,  are  the  salient  points 
which  strike  the  eye  and  appeal  to  the  imagination 
in  those  palatial  halls  which  in  their  original  condition 
must  have  exhibited  a  magnificence  which  baffled  all 
description. 

The  stalactitic  patterns,  in  whose  elegant  arrange- 
ment and  marvellous  diversity  the  constructive  genius 
of  the  Moor  especially  delighted,  were  applied,  not 
only  to  the  cupolas,  but  in  the  angles  along  the  frieze 
and  upon  the  plane  surface  of  the  walls.  The  domes 
of  the  principal  chambers  of  the  Alhambra  are  en- 
tirely composed  of  these  pendentives,  whose  pieces, 
in  the  most  elaborate  of  their  examples  of  artistic 
taste,  number  many  thousand.  The  tenacity  and 
strength  of  the  material  was  vastly  increased  by  the 
use  of  twigs  and  rushes  buried  in  the  fresh  and  yield- 
ing mortar,  which  was  fastened  to  a  wooden  frame- 
work by  nails  plated  with  tin,  which  even  now,  when 
exposed  to  the  air,  show  no  evidence  of  corrosion. 

With  the  exception  of  the  columns,  so  conspicuous 
a  peculiarity  of  Arabic  construction,  marble  was 
sparingly  used,  although  the  quarries  of  Spain  had 
been  renowned  from  the  highest  antiquity  for  the 
quantity  and  excellence  of  their  products.  While  a 
difi^erence  of  opinion  prevails  among  antiquaries  upon 
this  point,  it  is  reasonably  certain  that  the  columns 
supporting  the  arca,des  of  the  Alhambra  were  origi- 
nally gilded.  In  the  Hall  of  Justice  some  of  them 
are  encased  in  mosaic,  which  produces  an  unique,  if 
not  a  pleasing,  effect. 

Of  equal  originality  and  magnificence  were  the  ceil- 
ings and  the  doors  of  the  grand  Moorish  edifices.    The 


552  HiSTOBT  OF  THE 

art  of  marquetry  offered  to  the  Arab  workman  a  field 
in  which  his  characteristic  love  of  detail  and  intricate 
combinations,  aided  by  his  unflagging  industry,  found 
full  expression.  In  the  buildings  of  the  khalif ate,  ibe 
ceilings,  instead  of  being  either  flat  or  vaulted,  usually 
conformed  in  number  and  inclination  to  the  roofs, 
which  in  the  Mosque  were  nineteen,  one  for  every 
nave.  The  rafters,  carved  upon  three  sides,  enclosed 
spaces  forming  a  regular  series  of  panels  painted  with 
brilliant  colors,  and  whose  mouldings  and  other  ele- 
vated portions  were  covered  with  gold.  The  wood- 
work was  not  infrequently  inlaid  with  rare  and  pre- 
cious substances,  such  as  ebony  and  ivory,  mother-of- 
pearl,  tortoise-shell,  lazulite,  and  various  gems.  In 
the  later  periods  of  the  Moslem  domination,  the  same 
materials  were  used,  but  more  correct  ideas  of  archi- 
tectural construction  governed  their  disposition.  The 
primitive  angular  ceilings  were  supplanted  by  the 
hemispherical  dome,  whose  surface,  covered  with 
superb  geometrical  tracery,  blazing  with  vermilion, 
blue,  and  gold,  displayed,  in  all  its  perfection,  the 
utmost  skill  of  the  Moorish  artisan.  The  doors  and 
the  lattices  of  the  harem  corresponded  in  style  and 
workmanship  with  the  ornamented  interiors  of  the 
buildings,  and  it  was  not  unusual  for  a  single  lattice 
which  screened  an  opening  but  a  few  feet  square  to 
contain  fifteen  hundred  pieces,  combined  in  many  com- 
plex and  graceful  geometrical  patterns.  The  mimbar 
and  the  lectern  of  the  Mosque  of  Cordova,  already 
described  in  these  pages,  whose  odoriferous  and  pre- 
cious wood-work  was  fastened  together  with  golden 
nails  and  enriched  with  jewels, — ^long  the  pride  of  the 
faithful  and  now  the  subject  of  the  fruitless  specu- 
lations of  the  historian, — ^were  also  examples  of  Arab 
marquetry  produced  in  the  very  infancy  of  that  art 
The  perfection  subsequently  attained  in  the  carving 
of  hard  woods,  which  were  often  inlaid  with  ara- 


MooBisH  Empibe  in  Eusope  558 

besques  in  gold,  sflver,  and  copper,  has  never  been 
surpassed. 

"  In  Sicily,  less  fortunate  in  this  respect  than  Spain, 
not  a  single  well-authenticated  edifice  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan domination  is  known  to  exist.  The  two 
great  structures — ^the  ^za  and  the  Cuba — ^in  the  vicin- 
ity of  Palermo,  assigned  by  doubtful  authority  to 
the  tenth  century,  and  certainly  remodelled,  if  not 
entirely  reconstructed,  by  the  Normans,  are  the  only 
examples  by  which  we  can  form  any  conception  of 
the  architecture  of  a  kingdom  not  inferior  to  the  Cor- 
dovan khalifate  in  everything  that  implies  an  ad- 
vanced state  of  intellectual  culture  and  civilization. 
Their  proportions  are  bold  and  massive;  their  exte- 
riors, while  by  no  means  ornate,  are  decorated  with  a 
series  of  lofty  recessed  arches  extending  from  the 
foundation  to  the  frieze,  the  latter  being  formed  by 
an  Arabic  inscription  of  gigantic  dimensions  whidi 
cannot  now  be  deciphered.  These  buildings,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  mosaics  and  some  stalactitic  orna- 
mentation evidently  of  the  time  of  the  Normans,  pos- 
sess none  of  the  distinguishing  features  of  contempo- 
raneous Saracenic  architecture,  a  fact  which  has  cast 
a  well-founded  suspicion  upon  their  imputed  Arab 
origin.  The  unprotected  situation  of  Sicily,  which  ex- 
posed it  to  the  incursions  of  every  marauder,  its  suc- 
cession of  semi-barbarous  rulers,  its  long  and  bloody 
civil  wars,  the  unrelenting  hostility  of  the  See  of 
Rome  to  everything  connected  witiii  Mohanmiedan- 
ism,  may  account  for  the  total  disappearance  of  the 
superb  architectural  monuments  which  history  informs 
us  abounded  during  the  Moslem  rule.  The  same  fate 
has  befallen  the  productions  of  the  mechanical  and 
industrial  arts,  none  of  which,  of  any  importance,  or, 
indeed,  of  established  authenticity,  are  preserved  in 
either  national  museums  or  private  collections.  The 
memorials  of  Moslem  civilization  in  Sicily,  of  which 


554  HmOBY  OF  THE 

such  copious  and  interesting  details  survive  in  die 
works  of  contemporaneous  native  authors,  have  thore- 
f  ore  been  practically  annihilated.  The  absolute  dearth 
of  these  objects  of  architectural  and  artistic  ingenuity 
is  the*  more  extraordinary  when  the  magnitude  of  ihe 
manufacturing  and  commercial  interests  of  mediaeval 
Sicily,  the  protection  and  encouragement  afforded 
the  Moslems  by  their  conquerors,  and  the  dose  rela- 
tions they  sustained  with  neighboring  countries  are 
considered. 

The  military  structures  of  Mohammedan  Spain  ex- 
hibit the  same  general  characteristics  as  do  the  other 
surviving  examples  of  defensive  architecture  during 
the  Middle  Ages.  As  might  be  supposed  from  the 
purposes  for  which  they  were  destined,  and  from  their 
exposure  to  the  iminterrupted  warfare  of  many  cen- 
turies, they  have  undergone  radical  changes,  and  at 
this  distance  of  time  it  is  usually  impossible  to  deter^ 
mine  which  portions  are  of  Arabic  and  which  of  Cas- 
tilian  origin.  The  only  perfect  surviving  exemplar 
of  Moorish  fortification  in  the  Peninsula  is  the  Gate 
of  the  Sun  at  Toledo.  The  defensive  works  of  the 
Spanish  Arab  were  generally  on  an  immense  scale,  and 
their  construction  was  in  strict  conformity  with  the 
best  known  principles  of  military  engineering.  The 
walls  were  of  great  thickness  and  solidity,  the  towers 
square  and  disposed  at  frequent  intervals,  as,  for  in- 
stance, those  of  Granada,  whose  lines  of  circumval- 
lation,  while  not  of  extraordinary  extent,  contained 
more  than  thirteen  hundred.  Covered  ways  and  bar^ 
bicans  provided  with  battlements  defended  the  ap- 
proaches and  protected  the  fortress  itself  from  sudden 
and  unexpected  assault.  The  citadel,  which  fre- 
quently enclosed  a  considerable  area,  and  whose  pre- 
cincts presented  the  appearance  of  a  diminutive  city, 
was  at  once  the  seat  of  the  court  with  its  numerous  ret- 
inue, the  head-quarters  of  the  army,  and  the  deposi- 


MooBiSH  Emfibx  in  Eubope  555 

tory  of  the  products  of  the  mint  and  the  arsenal.  It 
communicated  hy  means  of  subterranean  passages, 
known  only  to  certain  officials  of  the  government,  with 
the  other  defences,  and  always  with  the  outer  wall  of 
the  city,  thus  affording  a  speedy  and  unsuspected 
means  of  escape  in  time  of  conspiracy  or  insmrection. 
With  the  exception  of  the  Gate  of  the  Sun  at  Toledo, 
Moorish  citadels  exhibit  little  attempt  at  ornamenta- 
tion; the  serious  and  important  destination  of  Uiese 
gigantic  works  is  realized  in  their  frowning  aspect  and 
their  massive  walls,  which  offered  neither  temptation 
nor  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  decorative  skill. 
Water  was  provided  for  the  garrison  not  only  by  im- 
mense cisterns,  but  by  galleries  cut  for  long  distances 
through  the  sohd  rock,  below  the  bed  of  the  stream 
whidi  usually  encircled  the  eminences  upon  which 
these  strongholds  were  erected.  Occasionally,  when 
the  situation  of  a  tower  afforded  unusual  security,  its 
interior  was  finished  with  all  the  pomp  and  beauty  of 
a  royal  residence. 

The  mosque,  one  of  the  most  characteristic  tjrpes 
of  Arab  architecture,  preserved  to  the  last  in  its  plan 
and  principles  of  construction  the  striking  peculiari- 
ties of  its  origin.  Although  its  design  has  been  sup- 
posed to  have  been  derived  from  the  basilica,  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  modelled  after  the 
Hebrew  temple.  Its  rectangular  form,  its  rows  of 
colonnades,  its  mihrab,  corresponding  to  the  holy  of 
holies,  the  f oimtains  for  ceremonial  lustration,  are  all 
suggestive  of  the  numerous  points  of  resemblance  ex- 
isting between  the  Moslem  and  the  Jewish  faith.  In 
spite  of  inherited  prejudice,  but  a  vague'  and  ill-de- 
fined boundary  has  always  separated  these  two  great 
divisions  of  the  Semitic  race,  which  trace  their  com- 
mon origin  to  Abraham.  The  simple  luxuries  of  the 
Desert  were  commemorated,  not  only  by  the  grateful 
sound  of  rippling  waters,  but  by  the  perfume  and  the 


556  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

shade  of  the  orange-trees  of  the  court,  which  re- 
freshed the  senses  of  the  worshipper  and  suggested 
to  his  vivid  imagination  dreams  of  a  material  and 
voluptuous  paradise.  The  moderate  height  of  the 
building  exaggerated  its  already  vast  dimensions;  Ihe 
eye,  bewildered  by  the  forest  of  columns,  vainly  at- 
tempted to  penetrate  its  interminable  depths;  and  the 
impression  of  the  infinite  was  heightened  by  super- 
imposed tiers  of  interlacing  arches,  whose  combina- 
tions recalled  the  graceful  foliage  of  their  prototype, 
the  palm  grove  of  Arabia. 

The  Moorish  architecture  of  the  Peninsula,  as  the 
reader  has  no  doubt  already  observed,  is  ranarkable 
rather  for  elegance  than  for  grandeur.  It  was  not 
like  that  of  Egypt,  dependent  for  its  effect  upon 
the  lofty,  the  imposing,  the  colossal.  The  spirit  of 
Grecian  art,  which  found  expression  in  structures 
whose  perfect  symmetry  of  form  and  correctness  of 
detail  have  never  been  equalled,  furnished  to  the  Arab 
architect  none  of  those  artistic  conceptions  which  were 
the  inspiration  of  painters,  sculptors,  and  builders  in 
subsequent  ages.  The  genius  of  the  Arab  was  in  gen- 
eral rather  adaptive  than  creative,  rather  imitative 
than  original.  But  while  many  of  its  ideas  can  be 
traced  to  the  examples  of  f  oriner  civilizations,  a  peo- 
ple who  profited  by  and  improved  upon  the  sugges- 
tions of  a  score  of  races  can  hardly  be  said  to  have 
borrowed  from  any.  While  art,  especially  as  applied 
to  architecture,  is  an  infallible  index  of  the  sentiments 
and  mental  peculiarities  of  the  people  by  whom  it  is 
developed,  none  can  claim  absolute  originality  for  its 
productions;  all  are  necessarily  dependent  upon  their 
predecessors  for  much  of  the  creative  influence  by 
which  they  are  actuated.  This  is  particularly  true  of 
the  Arabs  of  the  Occident.  Every  nation  of  antiquity 
as  well  as  of  the  contemporaneous  world  paid  intel- 
lectual tribute  to  the  great  Moslem  Empire  of  the 


MooBiSH  Emfikb  in  Eubope  657 

West  Its  mosques  were  Jewish,  its  fortifications 
Roman,  its  minarets  Byzantine.  The  finest  ornamen- 
tation of  the  exterior  of  its  magnificent  temple  was 
derived  from  Ctesiphon,  that  of  the  interior  from 
Constantinople.  Its  stuccoes  came  from  Syria,  its 
enamels  from  ancient  Nineveh.  The  infinite  combi- 
nations of  its  geometrical  designs  and  its  method  of 
hanging  doors  had  been  familiar  to  the  Egyptians 
three  thousand  years  before  they  were  employed  in 
Spain.  The  capitals  of  the  earliest  columns  are 
clumsy  imitations  of  Grecian  models.  The  researches 
of  antiquaries  have  disclosed  the  germ  of  the  penden- 
tive  vault  in  Persia,  and  the  carved  and  painted  ceil- 
ing of  wood  was  used  in  the  Orient  long  before  the 
appearance  of  Mohanmied.  Even  rubble-work,  the 
basis  of  every  kind  of  Arabic  architecture,  was  a 
process  which  had  been  adopted  in  the  construction 
of  edifices  from  a  remote  antiquity. 

Hispano-Arab  architecture  is  ordinarily  divided 
for  convenience  into  three  arbitrary  and  ill-defined 
periods, — ^the  age  of  its  origin,  embracing  the  works 
attributable  to  the  Ommeyade  Khalifate;  the  age  of 
its  transition,  which  includes  all  constructions  erected 
by  the  principalities  which  arose  after  the  dismem- 
berment of  the  Moslem  empire;  and  the  age  of  its 
culmination,  which  began  with  the  rise  of  the  inde- 
pendent kingdom  of  Granada  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury and  closed  with  the  unrivalled  excellence  of  the 
Alhambra.  The  monuments  of  the  first  period,  of 
which  the  Mosque  of  Cordova  is  the  most  striking, 
and,  indeed,  practically  the  sole  perfect  exemplar,  are 
widely  scattered  and  incomplete. 

The  sumptuous  edifices  which  abounded  in  every 
city  have  disappeared  or  have  been  mutilated  almost 
beyond  recognition.  Barbaric  violence  has  annihi- 
lated the  palaces  which  lined  the  Guadalquivir,  and 
*whose  ridbness  and  beauty  were  the  admiration  of 


55B  HiSTOKY  OF  THE 

the  world.  Ecclesiastical  malignity  has  demolished  to 
their  very  f omidations  or  sedulously  effaced  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  imiumerable  temples  raised  for  the 
propagation  of  a  hostile  religion,  and  the  extent  of 
this  systematic  enmity  may  be  inferred  from  the  sug- 
gestive fact  that  of  the  seven  hundred  mosques  re- 
quired for  the  worship  of  the  Moslem  capital,  but  one 
has  survived.  Diligent  antiquarian  research  has  failed 
to  establish  even  the  sites  of  all  but  three  or  four  of 
the  remainder,  of  whose  existence  and  splendor  both 
history  and  tradition  afford  abundant  and  indispu- 
table evidence.  The  ignorance  and  prejudice  of  suc- 
cessive generations  have,  in  addition  to  the  above- 
named  destructive  agencies,  contributed  their  share, 
and  no  unimportant  one,  to  the  obliteration  of  these 
memorials  of  Arab  taste  and  ingenuity. 

The  Mosque  of  Cordova  represents  every  phase  of 
Arabian  constructive  and  decorative  art  during  the 
period  of  two  centuries  which  elapsed  between  its 
foundation  and  completion.  It  is,  therefore,  to  that 
extent  an  architectural  epitome  of  the  development  of 
Moslem  civilization,  in  which,  in  a  measure,  can  be  de- 
ciphered the  history  of  the  race  under  whose  auspices 
it  was  erected  and  adorned.  While  the  technically  in- 
dependent character  of  Moorish  architecture  in  the 
Peninsula  has  been  long  established,  its  originality  is, 
as  has  already  been  stated,  for  the  most  part  depend- 
ent upon  ingenious  combinations  of  elements  afforded 
by  the  examples  of  former  civilized  nations.  This 
fact  becomes  evident  when  the  various  portions  of  the 
Great  Mosque  are  examined  in  detail,  and  is  espe- 
cially apparent  in  the  magnificent  decorations  of  the 
sanctuary.  Here,  while  the  plan  and  the  designs  were 
clearly  of  Arabic  origin,  the  materials  and  the  method 
of  their  application,  and,  indeed,  even  some  of  the 
artisans,  were  Byzantine.  But  these  precious  mosaics 
bear  but  little  resemblance  to  those  of  contemporane-' 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  559 

ous  Christian  churches,  which  were  identical  with  them 
in  composition  and  in  the  manner  of  attaching  them 
to  the  walls.  What  in  the  one  instance  seems  the 
perfection  of  artistic  beauty  and  excellence,  in  the 
others  appears  glaring,  harsh,  and  grotesque;  the 
sublime  artistic  genius,  alone  capable  of  creating  these 
marvels,  is  absent.  The  Mihrab  of  the  Mosque  of 
Cordova  had  no  prototype  in  Islam  or  elsewhere,  and 
both  its  plan  and  details  have  defied  all  imitation. 

The  evolution  of  Arabic  art  in  Spain  is  one  of 
the  most  curious  problems  in  the  annals  of  its  exotic 
civilization.  Its  origin  and  the  impulse  that  first 
prompted  its  development,  as  well  as  the  principal 
models  from  which  it  obtained  its  ideas,  are  buried 
in  obscurity.  No  country  in  Europe  contains  such  a 
variety  of  gigantic  and  well-preserved  memorials  of 
Roman  imperial  greatness  as  the  Peninsula.  But 
with  the  exception  of  the  city  walls  and  the  castles, 
Hiere  is  no  evidence  that  the  Arabs  were  ever  so  im- 
pressed with  their  grandeur  as  to  make  even  an  in- 
effectual attempt  to  imitate  them.  The  isolation  of 
Mohammedan  Spain,  whose  dominant  sect  was  dis- 
credited, and  whose  dynasty  was  proscribed  by  the 
ruling  Houses  of  Syria  and  Persia,  was  long  unfavor- 
able to  the  maintenance  of  those  relations  by  means 
of  which  an  interchange  of  ideas  and  the  rapid 
progress  of  a  nation  in  the  arts  of  peace  is  ordinarily 
effected.  The  steps  by  which  the  architectural  con- 
ceptions of  many  Oriental  nations  became  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  builders  of  the  Western  IQialifate  are 
therefore  undiscemible.  It  is  possible,  however,  that 
these  ideas,  apparently  borrowed  but  developed  under 
similar  conditions  along  the  same  lines  of  thought, 
are  after  all  original.  The  great  importance  attached 
by  the  Arabs  to  mathematics,  in  the  study  of  which 
they  attained  to  such  unrivalled  proficiency,  must,  as 
sheadj  suggested,  have  contributed  more  to  ardiitec- 


560  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

tural  improvement  than  any  other  cause.  The  appli- 
cation of  algebra  to  geometry — ^an  invention  ascribed, 
with  a  considerable  degree  of  certainty,  to  the  Span- 
ish Moslems — ^immeasurably  facilitated  the  develop- 
ment of  every  art  dependent  upon  mechanical  and 
mathematical  conditions,  and  none  is  more  indebted 
to  it,  in  this  respect,  than  the  art  of  construction. 
Long  anterior  to  the  tenth  century,  the  epoch  of  the 
most  advanced  civilization  of  the  khalif  ate,  the  schools 
of  Cordova,  Seville,  Valencia,  Malaga,  and  Toledo 
gave  instruction  in  geometry,  drawing,  and  oUier 
branches  of  mathematics  pertaining  to  architecture, 
the  lessons  being  supplemented  by  practical  demon- 
strations of  the  application  of  their  principles  under 
the  direction  of  experienced  masters.  Under  such 
circumstances,  the  standard  of  Moorish  taste  was 
formed,  and  its  ideas  of  constructive  excellence  defi- 
nitely established  in  the  first  and  most  important 
stage  of  its  development.  The  genius  which  inspired 
its  early  creations,  the  dreams  which  spurred  on  its 
youthful  ambition,  were  never  lost  until  the  crown- 
ing glory  of  its  achievements  fell  before  the  con- 
queror, and  its  artisans  and  their  productions  alike 
were  trampled  in  the  dust  by  the  ruthless  chivalry  of 
Castile. 

The  age  of  transition  has  left  no  memorials  from 
which  an  intelligent  idea  of  its  progress  can  be  ob- 
tained. The  Giralda  of  Seville  is  the  only  one  which 
exists  in  tolerable  preservation,  and  it  affords  an  ex- 
ample of  exterior  ornamentation  alone.  In  the  Alca- 
zar may  be  observed  labors  which  were  evidently  com- 
pleted at  different  epochs;  but  no  information  is  avail- 
able of  the  dates  at  which  they  were  executed,  nor  can 
it  now  be  ascertained  how  much  is  of  Arab  origin  and 
how  much  should  be  attributed  to  Mudejar  influence. 
The  damage  this  palace  has  suffered,  and  the  material 
alterations  it  has  undergone  at  the  hands  of  monarcfas 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  561 

devoid  of  taste  and  of  appreciation  of  the  noble  works 
of  the  Moors,  have  practically  destroyed  its  identity, 
and  have  rendered  it,  on  account  of  its  absurd  and  in- 
congruous additions  and  reparations,  the  despair  of 
both  the  archeologist  and  the  architect.  The  charac- 
teristics of  Arabian  art  are  better  preserved  and  more 
easily  traced  in  the  edifices  of  Granada  erected  by  the 
dynasty  of  the  Alhamares,  and  which  represent  the 
^final  period  of  its  development. 

The  Alhambra  —  a  structure  in  whose  luxurious 
elegance  are  embodied  the  results  of  seven  centuries 
of  progress — ^is  the  type  and  crowning  triumph  of 
this  epoch.  In  its  sumptuous  apartments  are  to  be 
found  none  of  the  peculiar  features  to  be  observed 
in  the  buildings  of  t^e  first  era  of  the  Moslem  domi- 
nation; none  of  the  severe  dignity,  the  sombre  maj- 
esty, the  fatalistic  conceptions,  the  tendency  to  exclude 
all  but  the  simplest  forms  of  ornamentation,  which 
distinguish  the  earliest  portions  of  the  Djalma  of  Cor^ 
dova.  The  horseshoe  arch  has  disappeared  or  has  been 
radically  modified;  its  importance  as  a  talisman  is  ap- 
parently no  longer  recognized;  and  it  has  given  place 
to  other  symbols  of  less  obscure  origin  and  meaning. 
Here  one  of  the  most  important  of  Koranic  precepts 
is  violated;  animal  forms  are  represented  in  paint- 
ings as  well  as  in  sculpture;  and  the  curiosity  of  the 
artist  is  gratified  by  a  delineation  of  physiognomy, 
costume,  and  manners,  unique  of  its  Hnd,  and  stUl 
abhorred  as  idolatrous  by  the  orthodox  zealots  of  the 
Mohammedan  world.  The  conditions  of  domestic 
life,  exacted  by  and  dependent  upon  the  traditions  of 
the  harem,  are  everywhere  observed, — ^in  the  frowning 
exterior;  in  the  isolated  courts;  in  the  guarded  com- 
munications; in  the  ponderous  doors;  in  the  mysteri- 
ous lattices;  in  the  exquisite  decorations;  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  appliances  for  physical  enjoyment  which 
have  exhausted  the  resources  of  Oriental  luxury.    The 

Vol.  IIL-Sd.  . 


562  HnrroET  or  the 

Arabic  love  of  variety  and  magnificence,  so  character- 
istic of  an  impulsive,  a  versatile,  a  highly  romantic 
race,  is  visible  on  every  side;  in  the  arrangement  of 
colmnns,  now  single,  now  grouped;  some  smooth, 
others  belted  with  rings,  the  majority  once  covered 
with  gilding,  a  few  still  encased  in  an  enamel  of 
sparkling  mosaic;  in  the  composite  curves  of  the 
arches,  each  disclosing  the  distinctive  traits  of  its 
original  type, — ^horseshoe,  ogival,  semicircular, — some 
engrailed,  others  stalactitic,  all  of  incomparable  grace 
and  symmetry;  in  the  spandrels,  at  short  distance,  ap- 
parently identical,  yet  upon  close  inspection  moulded 
in  a  score  of  fantastic  designs,  through  whose  lace-like 
interstices  the  rays  of  sunlight  diffuse  a  mellowed 
glow;  in  the  maze  of  polished  tilework,  whose  bewil- 
dering combinations  are  but  broken  sections  of  the 
nine  polygons  of  geometry,  arranged  by  the  aid  of 
algebraic  science;  in  the  fretted  walls  with  their  gor- 
geous arabesques;  in  the  intertwined  mottoes,  doubly 
legible;  in  the  cupolas,  whose  decorations  of  azure, 
scarlet,  and  gold  sparkle  in  the  semi-obscurity  of  the 
interior  like  a  setting  of  precious  gems.  The  eye  of 
the  hypercritical  architect  sees  in  the  Alhambra  but  a 
confused  jumble  of  incongruous  ideas;  a  construction 
without  recognized  precedent;  a  monument  which 
belongs  to  no  order  of  architecture,  and  which  trans- 
gresses the  established  rules  of  that  science  as  radi- 
cally as  the  productions  of  many  authors,  whose 
genius  is  the  delight  of  millions,  do  the  unities  of  time 
and  place,  once  universally  considered  the  essentials 
of  poetic  excellence.  But  it  is  this  very  irregularity, 
this  independence  of  the  arbitrary  and  inflexible  prin- 
ciples of  art,  that,  to  the  tmprof  essional  observer,  con- 
stitutes its  greatest  charm.  The  originality  of  its 
component  parts  when  analyzed  may  be  disputed,  but 
no  question  can  arise  as  to  the  consummate  skill  that 
arranged  and  <!ombined  them  in  a  whole,  which,  al- 


Moorish' Empibx  m  Europe  668 

though  it  may  offend  the  canons  of  artistic  criticism, 
if  strictly  construed,  is  yet  beautiful,  harmonious,  en- 
dianting.  The  famous  Arabian  palace  is  the  master- 
piece of  the  Moorish  architects  of  Spain;  the  crown- 
ing adiievement  of  the  labors  of  twenty  generations; 
the  embodiment  of  the  most  elegant  conceptions  of 
the  art,  the  industry,  and  the  intellectual  culture  of 
that  polished  age.  So  long  as  the  slightest  portion  of 
it  survives,  it  wiU  convey  an  instructive  lesson  to  the 
student  and  the  antiquary,  and  call  up  memories  of 
that  great  empire,  whose  literary  remains,  whose  sci- 
entific discoveries,  whose  large  tolerance,  whose  in- 
quiring spirit,  were  at  once  the  harbingers  and  the 
incentives  of  modem  civilized  life.  All  that  is  valu- 
able in  the  economic  institutions  of  society,  in  its 
multitudinous  inventions,  in  its  facility  of  intercom- 
munication, in  the  excellence  of  its  fabrics,  in  the 
perfection  of  its  agricultural  operations,  has  long 
been  recognized  as  dependent  upon  the  practical  and 
judicious  application  of  the  principles  of  science.  Of 
these  considerations,  the  Alhambra,  which  was  the 
centre  of  the  most  accomplished  and  progressive  com- 
munity of  the  Middle  Ages,  is  particularly  suggestive. 
It  is  a  monument  of  national  genius.  It  is  a  symbol 
of  national  progress.  It  looked  down  upon  the  libra- 
ries which  sheltered  the  fragments  of  that  civilization 
whose  learning  had  enlightened  the  mediaeval  world. 
In  its  halls  the  prodigal  luxury  of  the  Moorish  princes 
daily  exhibited  exquisite  specimens  of  the  experience 
and  dexterity  of  the  artisans  of  the  kingdom, — ^the 
masterpieces  of  the  weaver,  the  cutler,  the  armorer, 
the  jeweller,  the  enameller.  Its  painted  battlements 
towered  above  the  lists  where  Moslem  and  Christian 
knights  had  competed  for  the  prize  of  chivalry  and 
daring,  bestowed  by  the  emir  surrounded  by  the 
pomp  of  arms  and  the  beauty  of  the  seraglio.  Thus 
was  the  Alhambra  the  emblem  of  the  greatness  and 


564  History  of  the   * 

splendor  of  Granada,  the  boast  of  its  monarchs,  tiie 
wonder  of  strangers,  the  pride  of  liie  people.  Its 
glory  has  departed,  its  lustre  is  tarnished,  but  the 
mournful  traditions  with  which  poetry  and  romance 
have  invested  its  history  can  never  pass  away;  and  its 
fate  is  emphasized  by  the  mottoes  of  the  sovereigns 
who  respectively  founded  and  mutilated  it,  still  em- 
blazoned upon  its  walls,  the  arrogant  vaunt  of  Hie 
Spaniard,  "Plus  Ultra;"  the  pious  device  of  the 
Moor,  "  There  is  no  conqueror  but  Gk)d." 

The  injunction  of  Mohammed  concerning  tiie  rep- 
resentation of  animal  forms  was  disregarded  almost 
from  the  earliest  days  of  Moslem  dominion.  Even 
before  the  tenth  century,  Mussulman  artists  who  de- 
picted living  beings  seem  to  have  abounded  in  the 
countries  subject  to  Islam.  A  biography  of  them  is 
given  by  Makrisi,  in  which  great  talents  are  ascribed 
to  those  of  Egypt.  Their  works  were  displayed  not 
only  in  wood  and  stone,  but  on  silk,  velvet,  and  dotfa 
of  gold.  The  treasiuy  of  the  Fatimite  Khalif ,  Mos- 
tansu*,  contained  peacocks  and  gazelles  of  life-size, 
made  of  the  precious  metals  enriched  with  magnificent 
gems.  Al-Amin,  the  son  and  successor  of  Harun- 
al-Raschid,  possessed  a  number  of  magnificent  barges, 
fashioned  like  birds  and  animals  and  painted  in  imi- 
tation of  their  living  models,  whose  oarsmen  were 
concealed  from  view.  As  these  njonsters,  apparently 
instinct  with  life,  moved  mysteriously  over  the  Tigris, 
they  excited  the  astonishment  of  the  multitude  as  in- 
ventions of  the  genii.  From  the  statement  of  the 
great  historian,  Ibn-Ehaldun,  who  visited  Granada  in 
1868,  the  representation  of  well-known  events,  as  well 
as  of  the  features  of  distinguished  personages  on  the 
walls  of  houses  in  that  city,  must  have  been  common. 
He  was  greatly  scandalized  by  this  unorthodox  cus- 
tom, which,  although  deriving  its  origin  from  Hie  Cas- 
tilians,  was  constantly  practised  by  those  who  called 


Moorish  Empibs  in  Eubofe  565 

themselves  good  Mussulmans,  among  whom  were 
numbered  many  artists  who  had  been  instructed  by  the 
Byzantine  and  Persian  residents  of  the  capital. 

Nor  was  sculpture,  an  art  implying  an  even  more 
flagrant  violation  of  Koranic  precept  than  that  ex- 
hibited by  the  less  conspicuous  objects  produced  by 
liie  brush  and  the  pencil,  neglected  by  Mohammedans. 
Arabic  histories  are  full  of  allusions  to  these  produc- 
tions. Ehumaruyah,  Sultan  of  Egypt,  in  the  ninth 
century  had  a  great  hall  in  his  palace  filled  with  statues 
of  the  women  of  his  harem.  The  knockers  on  the 
doors  of  many  of  the  mansions  of  Bagdad  were 
carved  in  the  shapes  of  grotesque  animals.  Existing 
examples,  few  as  they  are,  of  the  sculpture  of  the 
Hispano-Arab  period  show  to  what  an  extent  religious 
prejudice  was  defied  by  the  Mussulmans  of  Spain. 

The  doctors  of  the  law  disagreed  as  to  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  command  of  the  Koran  which  ban- 
ished from  the  realm  of  art  one  of  its  most  useful 
and  suggestive  features.  Some  regarded  it  in  the 
light  of  an  absolute  prohibition  to  be  construed  in  its 
broadest  significance;  to  others  it  seemed  to  refer  only 
to  the  fabrication  and  worship  of  idols.  The  Spanish 
Arabs,  who  had  greater  liberality  and  a  larger  share 
of  philosophical  indifference  than  their  Oriental 
brethren,  apparently  adhered  to  the  latter  opinion. 
At  all  events,  the  admonition  generally  respected  as 
a  cardinal  principle  of  the  orthodox  believer  was  ig- 
nored from  the  very  foundation  of  the  khalif ate,  and 
even  the  sanctuary  of  Islam  was  defiled  by  the  pres- 
ence of  sculptured  forms  of  animal  life ;  in  the  Great 
Mosque  of  Abd-al-Rahman,  the  Seven  Sleepers  and 
the  raven  despatched  from  the  ark  by  Noah  are 
chiselled  upon  the  capitals;  over  the  portal  of  Me- 
dina-al-Zahra  stood  the  effigy  of  the  beautiful  favor- 
ite whose  vanity  had  suggested  the  erection  of  that 
magnificent  edifice;   its  principal  fountain  was  em- 


566  HiSTOBT  at  THB 

bellished  with  the  figures  of  twelve  different  quad- 
rupeds of  gold  incrusted  with  precious  stones;  in  the 
designs  of  its  rich  hangings  were  interwoven  wild 
beasts  and  birds  of  brilliant  plumage,  whose  forms, 
delineated  with  amazing  skill,  appeared  to  move  with 
the  swaying  of  the  silken  tapestry;  in  one  of  the 
squares*  of  the  capital  stood  a  lion,  cast  in  bronze  and 
plated  with  gold,'  whose  eyes  were  rubies,  and  from 
whose  mouth  gushed  the  refreshing  waters  brought 
from  the  springs  of  the  distant  sierra.  In  the  fairy 
palace  of  Rusafah,  equal  to  its  rival  in  the  splendor 
of  its  appointments  and  inferior  only  in  dim^isions, 
silver  swans  floated  upon  the  glossy  surface  of  the 
lakes,  and  the  fountains  displayed  the  effigies  of  ni«i 
and  animals  carved  in  marble  and  jasper  by  a  cunning 
hand.  The  talismanic  horseman  of  King  Habus,  de- 
scribed in  history  and  immortalized  by  fiction,  is  an- 
other instance  of  this  disregard  of  Koranic  injunction, 
again  confirmed  by  the  two  marble  lions  of  the  Moor- 
ish mint  and  by  the  famous  twelve  of  the  Alhambra. 

But  the  most  curious  of  these  examples  of  violated 
law  are  the  paintings  upon  the  ceiling  of  the  Hall 
of  Justice  in  that  palace,  and  which  are  supposed  to 
have  been  executed  during  the  fourteenth  century. 
Two  of  them  represent  scenes  of  war  and  the  chase, 
but  no  data  siuvive  by  which  it  can  be  determined 
whether  they  are  historic  or  legendary.  The  third 
contains  portraits  of  ten  kings  of  Granada,  iii^ose 
rank  is  indicated  by  the  royal  blazons  represented  in 
the  central  painting.  The  faces,  sober,  dignified,  ma- 
jestic, are  evidently  drawn  from  life,  and  a  tradition 
exists  that  the  features  of  some  of  them  were  recog- 
nized by  old  Moslems  of  Granada  when,  after  the 
Reconquest,  they  were  for  the  first  tune  exposed  to 
public  inspection ;  while  the  turbans,  the  flowing  robes 
of  various  colors,  the  swords  with  curious  hilts  and 
scabbards  of  gold  and  silver,  the  yellow  slippers,  at 


Moorish  Emfibs  in  Eukofe  567 

once  suggest  the  Orient;  and  place  before  the  eye 
the  exact  costumes,  and  perhaps  the  lineaments,  of 
those  princes  who  long  maintained  in  a  comer  of 
hostile  Europe  the  legends,  the  belief,  and  the  civili- 
zation of  the  Mohammedan  world.  These  unique 
works  are  of  Arabic  origin,  a  fact  established  by  the 
monograms  traced  upon  them,  which  denote,  immis- 
takably  the  nationality  of  the  artist.  In  numerous 
particulars  they  indicate  lack  of  experience  and  cul- 
tivation. The  figures  are  rudely  delineated,  the  posi- 
tions strained  and  awkward.  None  exhibit  the  slight- 
est grace;  some  are  absolutely  grotesque;  the  colors 
are  not  distributed  harmoniously;  no  attention  is  paid 
to  the  rules  of  perspective;  the  lines  are  sharply  and 
unpleasantly  defined;  there  is  no  symmetry  of  pro- 
portion, no  dexterous  imitation  of  those  natural  feat- 
ures which  impart  to  a  painting  life  and  energy.  The 
mechanical  arrangement  is  as  crude  as  the  pictorial 
execution.  Upon  a  wooden  framework,  pigskins 
were  stretched  and  fastened,  and  over  these  a  layer 
^^  gypsum  was  spread,  forming  the  foundation 
for  the  colors.  The  flatness  of  the  latter  and  the 
golden  ground  of  the  portraits  are  indications  of 
Byzantine  taste  and  influence. 

Among  the  architectural  decorations  employed  by 
Moorish  artists,  none  were  more  popular  or  more  sus- 
ceptible of  variety  of  arrangement  and  harmony  of 
eff^ect  than  those  formed  by  the  letters  of  the  Arabic 
alphabet.  The  inscriptions  on  the  walls  of  Moorish 
edifices  constitute  no  inconsiderable  part  of  their 
choicest  ornamentation.  Those  of  the  Peninsula  are 
principally  devoted  to  mottoes  of  a  religious  nature 
or  to  legends  illustrating  the  grandeur  and  munifi- 
cence of  the  sovereign.  In  some  instances,  a  poem, 
evidently  composed  for  the  purpose,  and  celebrating 
the  virtues  of  the  prince  or  the  beauty  of  the  building 
it  adorned,  glittered  upon  the  panelled  walls  or  encir- 


568  History  of  the 

ded  the  apartment  with  characters  of  living  fire.  The 
square  Cufic  letters  used  in  the  first  buildings  of  the 
khalif ate  were  eventually  superseded  by  the  graceful 
curves  of  the  Neshki,  of  African  script  which  is  seen 
in  all  its  perfection  in  the  Alhambra.  So  admirably 
are  these  characters,  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  deco- 
ration that  Spanish  and  Italian  workmen,  ignorant  of 
their  significance  and  supposing  them  to  be  arabesques, 
have  frequently  inserted  Koranic  inscriptions  among 
the  carvings  of  Christian  churches;  and  it  is  said  that 
they  are  even  to  be  seen  upon  the  proud  facade  of 
St,  Peter's  at  Rome.  What  a  circumstance  of  exqui- 
site irony  it  would  be,  as  a  French  writer  pertinently 
suggests,  if,  over  the  portal  of  the  grandest  temple 
of  Christendom,  the  fountain  of  trinitarian  orthodoxy, 
the  stronghold  of  Catholicism,  the  seat  of  the  infallible 
Vicar  of  Christ,  should  be  found  inscribed  the  Moham- 
medan declaration  of  faith  proclaiming  the  mission  of 
the  Arabian  Prophet  and  the  unity  of  Godl 

The  colors  most  affected  by  the  Spanish-Moslem  in 
his  interior  decorations  were  vermilion  and  ultra- 
marine, both  esteemed  by  artists  as  much  for  durability 
as  for  brilliancy;  and  the  permanence  of  those  used 
by  the  Moors  of  Granada,  whose  vitid  tints  have  been 
perfectly  preserved  through  the  lapse  of  ages,  attest 
their  extraordinary  purity  and  excellence.  While 
these  remained  the  basis  of  artistic  coloring,  others — 
such  as  green,  black,  yellow,  and  purple — ^were  spar- 
ingly employed,  excepting  in  the  mosaics,  which  blaze 
with  a  mingled  mass  of  gorgeous  hues. 

No  feature  of  Moslem  civilization  has  lingered 
more  persistently  in  the  Peninsula  than  its  architec- 
ture. The  scanty  knowledge  of  the  Visigothic  builder 
was  swept  away  by  the  Conquest.  The  pride  of  the 
Castilian,  bred  to  arms  and  incompetent  by  education 
and  experience,  revolted  at  the  restraints  and  drudgery 
incident  to  such  an  occupation.    As  a  result,  Arabic 


MooBiSH  Emfibe  in  Eubofe  569 

artisans  constructed  most  of  the  edifices  erected  for 
years  after  the  fall  of  the  Saracen  power,  and  the  pre- 
dominance of  their  artistic  ideas  gave  rise  to  a  new 
style  called  Mudejar,  whose  creations  are  often  diffi- 
cult to  distinguish  from  those  of  the  original  Moorish 
order.  No  more  flattering  tribute  can  be  paid  to  their 
accomplishments  than  the  circumstance  that  no  class 
of  buildings  profited  so  much  by  their  talents  as 
those  erected  under  the  auspices  of  the  Church.  After 
the  capture  of  Cordova  by  the  Castilians,  Moorish 
masons  and  carpenters  were  compelled  to  work  for  a 
specified  period  every  year  on  these  sacred  structures, 
in  consideration  of  which  they  were  exempted  from 
the  payment  of  taxes.  Turbaned  artificers,  vassals 
of  the  clergy,  assisted  in  the  construction  of  some  of 
the  noblest  piles  of  the  Peninsula;  the  walls  of  great 
monasteries,  the  windows  of  lofty  spires,  exhibit  the 
engrailed  and  horseshoe  arches  of  the  Moor;  his  skill 
was  exercised  in  the  chiselling  of  tiie  intricate  designs 
which  cover  the  fronts  of  magnificent  cathedrals;  a 
chapel  in  the  grand  metropolitan  church  of  Toledo,  the 
seat  of  the  Primate  of  Spain,  which  dates  from  the 
thirteenth  century,  is  a  beautiful  specimen  of  Mudejar 
art.  This  influence  is  also  apparent  in  many  of  the 
finest  ecclesiastical  edifices  of  France, — ^in  the  churches 
of  Maguelonne,  in  the  cathedral  of  Puy,  and  in  the 
ancient  abbeys  of  Provence  and  Languedoc.  It  is 
said  by  Dulaure,  in  his  "  Histoire  de  Paris,'*  that 
Moorish  architects  assisted  in  the  construction  of 
Notre  Dame. 

The  absence  of  all  remains  of  sepulchral  architec- 
ture dating  from  the  Mohammedan  period  deprives 
posterity  of  one  of  the  most  reliable  standards  by 
which  the  customs,  the  sentiments,  and  the  character- 
istics of  a  nation  may  be  determined.  In  common  with 
all  Semitic  races,  the  Arabs  seldom  reared  imposing 
monuments  to  the  dead.    No  trace  of  a  tomb  which 


fi70  HI8TOAY  OF  THB 

enclosed  the  body  of  any  of  the  Ommeyade  khalif  s 
has  been  discovered;  the  very  place  of  their  erection 
was  lost  in  the  tempest  of  ruin  which  accompanied 
the  Almoravide  conquest.  The  few  existing  in  the 
Alhambra  were  simple  marble  sarcophagi,  without 
ornament,  upon  whose  lids  were  sculptured  long  in- 
scriptions in  letters  of  gold  on  a  ground  of  blue. 
Of  these  slabs  but  one  remains,  for  the  tombs,  aban* 
doned  to  the  curiosity  of  the  rabble  when  Granada 
was  taken,  perished,  and  the  bones  of  the  princes  who 
had  illumined  all  Europe  by  their  genius  and  learning 
were  unceremoniously  cast  outside  the  waUs. 

Deprived  to  a  great  extent  of  the  artistic  resources 
to  be  obtained  from  the  representation  of  the  forms 
of  animal  life,  the  Moslem  utilized  with  unrivalled 
skill  the  segments  of  geometrical  figures  and  tlie 
graceful  foliage  of  the  vegetable  world  for  the  mani- 
fold purposes  of  decoration.  Every  line  in  the  com- 
plex designs  of  mosaic  is  the  side  or  the  curve  of  a 
polygon,  a  circle,  or  an  ellipse;  the  eminently  beautiful 
domes  of  wood  and  of  stucco  were  suggested  by  the 
symmetrical  productions  of  nature, — ^the  hemispheri- 
cal were  modelled  after  the  section  of  an  orange,  by 
which  name  they  were  known  to  the  Arab;  the  stalac- 
titic  were  striking  adaptations  of  the  pomegranate 
divested  of  its  seeds.  The  arabesques  are  but  repro- 
ductions of  vines  and  tendrils  combined  in  wonder- 
ful mazes  of  tracery;  the  lotus,  that  sacred  emblem 
of  India  and  Egypt  whose  mysterious  significance  was 
long  a  secret  of  the  sacerdotal  office,  is  sculptured 
upon  panel,  cornice,  and  capital;  the  rose  nestles 
amidst  the  entwined  ornamentation  of  the  walls;  the 
frondage  of  the  palm  is  simulated  by  the  sweeping 
arches  which  cross  and  intersect  like  the  drooping 
branches  of  the  date-forests  of  the  Nile.  By  other 
classes  of  natural  and  inanimate  objects,  by  the  jewels 
of  the  firmament,  and  by  the  denizens  of  the  sea,  was 


Moorish  Emfixe  m  Eubofe  671 

contributed  the  inspiration  that  imparted  to  ardiitee- 
tural  adornment  its  choicest  forms  of  elegance  and 
beauty.  The  great  marble  shell,  fifteen  feet  in  diam- 
eter and  carved  from  a  single  block,  which  covers  the 
sanctuary  of  the  Mosque  of  Cordova,  is  one  of  the 
most  curious  and  highly  finished  works  that  ever  pro- 
ceeded from  the  chisel  of  the  Moslem  sculptor.  Its 
fidelity  to  nature,  its  perfect  proportions,  the  striking 
position  it  occupies,  render  it  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing objects  in  the  ancient  temple  whose  holy  of  holies 
it  embellishes.  Stars  are  scattered  in  endless  profu- 
sion throughout  the  Alhambra;  in  the  centre  of 
mosaic  designs;  through  the  belts  of  floral  patterns 
which  encompass  the  halls;  in  the  lofty  ceilings, 
where  in  the  uncertain  light  their  golden  lustre  re- 
calls the  sparkle  of  their  originals  on  the  spotless 
ground  of  the  Southern  heavens. 

The  painted  windows,  sparingly  distributed  in 
buildings  erected  by  the  jealous  Moslem,  were  yet 
one  of  their  most  enchanting  and  characteristic  fea- 
tures. No  trace  of  them  appears  in  the  constructions 
of  the  khalifate;  their  existence  during  the  age  of 
transition  is  a  matter  of  conjecture;  and  it  is  only 
in  the  last  half  of  the  final  period  of  Hispano-Arab 
architecture  that  this  art  attained  its  highest  develop- 
ment. The  labors  of  the  Gothic  artist,  have  from  time 
immemorial  been  celebrated  as  the  most  perfect  of 
their  kind;  and  the  jewelled  designs  whose  tints  illu- 
mine the  aisles  of  mediaeval  cathedrals  would  seem  to 
be  of  incomparable  brilliancy  of  color  and  harmony 
of  effect.  And  yet  competent  judges  have  pro- 
nounced that  these  superb  works  were  rivalled,  if  not 
surpassed,  by  the  rich  and  elegant  combinations  of 
Arabian  genius.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the 
execution  of  the  windows  was  inferior  in  beauty  to 
the  decoration  of  the  walls;  the  same  dexterity  of 
hand,  accuracy  of  eye,  and  correctness  of  taste  must 


572  HiSTOST  OF  THE 

have  presided  over  both;  and  a  glaring  deficiency  in 
any  prominent  part  must  have  been  prejudicial  to 
all.  The  patience  which  was  not  exhausted  by  years 
of  toil  upon  an  object  intended  for  the  uses  of  the 
harem,  and  to  be  seen  by  comparatively  few,  would 
not  be  likely  to  neglect  the  designs  whose  gorgeous 
hues  were  a  principal  attraction  of  the  palace,  the 
ornament  and  the  glory  of  the  capital.  The  stained 
glass  employed  was  of  every  color,  and  corresponded 
in  pattern  with  the  arabesques  of  the  interiors;  and 
the  blazons  and  devices  of  royalty  disposed  at  intervals 
through  the  mass  of  ornament  reminded  the  observer 
of  the  greatness  of  the  monarch  under  whose  auspices 
the  work  was  completed.  The  exquisite  charm  of 
these  efi^ects  when  combined  with  those  of  the  walls 
and  cupolas  must  be  imagined,  for  no  description  can 
convey  an  adequate  idea  of  their  surpassing  excellence. 
Such  was  the  rise,  the  progress,  tiie  culmination  of 
architectural  construction  and  embellishment  in  the 
states  of  Mohanmiedan  Spain.  The  modifications — 
dependent  upon  economic  conditions,  upon  wide  and 
varied  acquaintance  with  the  masterpieces  of  other 
races,  upon  the  development  of  more  correct  concep- 
tions of  the  harmonious  and  the  beautiful — ^whicfa 
were  imdergone  by  this  branch  of  the  arts  are  more 
pronounced  than  is  usually  noticeable  in  the  material 
and  intellectual  progress  of  a  people  from  a  state  of 
barbarism  to  the  highest  point  in  the  scale, of  civiliza- 
tion. The  character  of  the  Arab  is,  however,  anoma- 
lous, independent  of  precedent,  and  apparently  sub- 
ject to  few  of  those  laws  whose  operation  prescribes 
the  career  and  fixes  the  ultimate  fate  of  nations.  The 
simplicity  of  form  and  comparative  absence  of  deco- 
ration characteristic  of  a  nomadic  race  are  conspicuous 
in  its  first  great  architectural  achievement, — ^a  temple 
dedicated  to  the  unity  of  God.  In  glaring  contrast 
appears  the  culminating  efi^ort  of  its  labors,  a  palace 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eusofe  578 

reared  for  the  purposes  of  voluptuous  indulgence, 
where  even  the  principles  of  durable  construction  were 
apparently  sacrificed  to  the  pomp  and  prodigality  of 
excessive  adornment,  a  precursor  of  impending  dis- 
solution, an  unmistakable  indication  of  decadence. 
Thus  the  Arabs,  like  all  races  that  preceded  them, 
have  recorded  their  deeds  in  the  forms  and  inscrip- 
tions of  their  architectural  monuments;  permanent 
registers  of  the  grandeur  and  depth  of  religious  sen- 
timent; suggestive  memorials  of  proficiency  in  the 
arts  of  peace;  potent  manifestations  of  national 
genius,  energy,  and  culture. 

The  artistic  tastes  of  the  Moslems,  always  largely 
controlled  by  pious  considerations,  were  displayed, 
not  only  in  the  construction  of  splendid  edifices,  but 
in  the  embellishment  of  their  most  common  accessories. 
The  well-curbs,  cylinders  of  marble  or  of  enamelled 
pottery,  girdled  with  raised  inscriptions  in  gold  and 
originally  placed  in  court-yards,  are  examples  of  the 
persistence  of  Oriental  tradition  as  well  as  of  the 
reverence  with  which  the  Arab  regarded  that  element 
which  was  the  most  precious  treasure  of  the  Desert. 

The  use  of  water  for  the  piu*poses  of  ceremonial 
lustration  is  a  custom  of  unknown  antiquity.  It  was 
constantly  employed  in  the  sacerdotal  mysteries  of 
Egypt,  India,  Persia.  The  inhabitants  of  those  coun- 
tries venerated  it  as  representing  an  active  force  in 
their  systems  of  cosmogony.  The  Egyptians  wor- 
shipped the  Nile;  the  Hindus  still  sacrifice  to  the 
Ganges.  By  the  former  the  rare  geological  formation 
of  water  crystals  was  regarded  with  peculiar  rever- 
ence, because  the  drops  thus  mysteriously  inclosed  in 
their  transparent  envelope  were  believed  to  be  spirits 
imprisoned  by  divine  agency.  In  the  traditions  of 
Phoenicia  the  sacredness  of  springs  was  continually 
referred  to;  the  Greeks  assigned  to  each  element  a 
place  in  Olympus;   the  superstitious  Roman  sculp- 


574  HlSTORT  OF  THE 

tured  his  well-curbs  with  scenes  of  mythology  or  with 
graceful  garlands  of  flowers.  No  nation  of  an- 
tiquity, however,  ascribed  such  extraordinary  impor- 
tance to  the  divine  virtues  of  water  as  the  Hebrews. 
In  the  time  of  Abraham  wells  were  regarded  as  of 
peculiar  sanctity.  Their  locality  confirmed  the  sacred- 
ness  and  obligation  of  an  oath;  it  was  a  token  of 
alliance,  a  place  of  reconciliation  for  enemies,  a  sym- 
bol which  ratified  and  enforced  the  validity  of  con- 
tracts. The  only  permanent  characteristic  recognized 
by  the  nomadic  Israelite  was  the  possession  of  a  well, 
which  established  the  residence  and  station  of  his  tribe. 
The  sacred  character  which  invested  the  sources  of 
water  was  intensified  by  the  climatic  conditions  whidi 
magnified  its  importance  and  increased  its  value.  It 
is  not  strange  that  the  heat  and  drought  of  the  Desert 
should  have  imparted  to  that  indispensable  fluid  some 
of  the  beneficent  attributes  of  Divine  Power.  The 
unsettled  state  of  tribal  existence  is  attributable  solely 
to  its  scarcity.  Its  profusion  was  synonymous  wili 
fertility,  prosperity,  abimdance.  Its  prominence, 
actual  and  symbolic,  in  the  Jewish  religious  system 
constantly  recurs  in  the  Bible.  The  Hebrews  made 
use  of  it  on  every  important  occasion,  in  every  cere- 
mony which  called  for  the  exercise  of  its  mysterious 
virtues.  They  sprinkled  it  over  the  victims  of  sacri- 
fice. They  purified  themselves  with  it  before  entering 
the  precincts  of  the  Temple.  The  veneration  with 
which  they  regarded  its  ceremonial  usage  was  trans- 
mitted to  Christianity,  which  has  consecrated  its  appli- 
cation as  a  rite  indispensable  to  salvation.  The  dis- 
persion of  the  Jews  by  the  Romans  familiarized  every 
nation  that  received  them  with  their  customs,  and  not 
a  few  adopted  the  latter  after  more  or  less  modifica- 
tion. Many  of  the  fugitives  settled  in  Yemen  and 
other  parts  of  Arabia,  where  their  influence  subse- 
quently played  an  important  rdle  in  Hie  formation  of 


Moorish  Emfise  in  Eubofe  575 

the  creed  of  Mohammed,  whose  doctrines  are  so  largely 
of  Hebrew  and  Christian  derivation.  From  them 
the  Arabs  absorbed  many  traditions  centuries  old, 
which  had  been  transmitted  through  numerous  nations 
to  the  credulous  Jews,  who  thus  became  the  deposi- 
taries of  all. 

In  the  extensive  and  varied  domain  of  tlie  indus- 
trial and  the  useful  arts,  Hispano-Arab  genius  devel- 
oped no  less  grace  and  dexterity  than  in  the  conspicu- 
ous and  permanent  creations  of  the  architect.  The 
effect  of  Koranic  restrictions  was  to  impede  all  ad- 
vance until  the  artisan  evaded  or  openly  disregarded 
them.  To  the  last,  however,  the  universal  prevalence 
of  that  religious  sentiment,  which  was  at  once  the 
incentive  and  the  power  of  Islamism  and  inspired  the 
skill  that  designed  even  the  most  homely  articles  of 
domestic  use,  as  well  as  the  exquisite  ornaments  of  the 
palace,  was  disclosed  by  all  the  products  of  Arabian 
industry.  Texts  from  the  Koran  were  carved  upon 
the  wooden  stamps  used  by  the  baker.  They  formed 
the  bit  of  the  key  that  unlocked  the  great  door  of 
the  castle.  On  swords  and  knives,  on  vases  and  thim- 
bles, on  garments  and  banners,  on  the  massive  brace- 
lets of  the  rich,  on  the  rudely  fashioned  but  highly 
treasured  amulets  of  the  poor,  were  engraved  or  em- 
broidered legends  of  pious  origin  and  significance. 
These  objects  have  for  the  greater  part  disappeared. 
The  prejudice  fostered  by  centuries  of  imrelenting 
hostility,  tibe  aversion  entertained  by  the  ministers  of 
an  antagonistic  and  triumphant  faith,  have,  as  far  as 
human  diligence  could  accomplish  it,  destroyed  all  the 
smaller  and  more  inconspicuous  evidences  of  Moorish 
civilization.  The  durability  of  their  materials,  the 
excellence  of  their  workmanship,  and  the  multiplicity 
of  uses  to  which  these  articles  were  destined,  would 
imply  that  vast  numbers  of  them  would  still  be  met 
witib,  especially  in  the  old  Moslem  provinces  of  Spain. 


576  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

But  such  is  not  the  case.  The  hatred  of  the  Spaniard 
for  everything  Mohammedan  extended  even  to  the 
inanimate  objects  on  which  his  vanquished  enemies 
had  exercised  their  skill,  and  which  were  at  once  sug- 
gestive of  heresy  and,  indirectly,  of  his  own  ignorance 
and  mechanical  incapacity.  It  was  the  Christian  cus- 
todians of  the  Mosque  of  Cordova  who  broke  to  pieces 
its  magnificent  pulpit  and  lectern  for  the  jewels  and 
ivory  they  contained;  it  was  Ximenes,  one  of  the 
greatest  scholars  of  his  time,  who  raised  in  the  square 
of  Granada  the  funeral  pyre  of  Arabic  literature; 
it  was  Philip  II.,  the  most  powerful  of  [European 
sovereigns  and  the  worthy  representative  of  his  nation 
and  his  age,  who  ordered  every  stone  in  Toledo  which 
bore  an  Arabic  inscription  to  be  destroyed.  Much 
perished  by  the  African  invasions  and  the  bloody  sedi- 
tions which  followed  them.  Many  articles  of  gold 
and  silver,  far  more  precious  for  their  workmanship 
tlian  for  their  intrinsic  value,  were  consigned  by  the 
ignorant  and  the  avaricious  to  the  blow-pipe  and  the 
crucible.  In  the  face  of  such  indiscriminate  and  sys- 
tematic destruction,  whose  spirit  even  massive  edifices 
have  not  been  able  to  withstand,  it  is  not  strange  that 
so  few  of  the  minor  objects  of  general  utility  have 
survived.  Indeed,  the  work  of  ruin  has  been  so  thor- 
ough that  there  are  now  many  educated  persons  in 
Spain  who  refuse  to  credit  the  artistic  ability  of  the 
Saracens,  on  account  of  the  dearth  of  evidence  pro- 
duced by  the  instrumentality  of  their  own  ancestors. 

Chief  among  the  branches  of  mechanical  industry 
in  which  the  Spanish  Moors  excelled  was  the  treat- 
ment of  metals.  The  casting  of  bronze,  especially  in 
large  pieces, — an  art  requiring  the  greatest  skill  even 
in  our  day, — ^they  understood  to  perfection.  The  speci- 
mens which  have  been  preserved  exhibit  a  smoothness 
unusual  in  works  of  this  description,  and  reveal  no 
subsequent  finish  with  the  burin  or  the  file.    Not  only 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  577 

statuary,  but  utensils  for  worship  as  well  as  for  do- 
mestic use — Clamps,  censers,  vases,  knives,  cups,  and 
hundreds  of  other  articles — ^were  produced  by  this 
convenient  process.  Their  ornamentation,  especially 
when  they  were  destined  for  the  service  of  the  mosque, 
was  rich  and  graceful;  interlaced  with  the  arabesques 
were  pious  mottoes  and  inscriptions;  in  some  the 
parts  in  relief  were  gilded.  An  exquisite  Arab  vase, 
which  tradition  referred  to  the  Crusades,  but  whidi 
most  probably  derived  its  origin  from  the  Mussul- 
mans of  Spain,  was  for  several  centuries  used  in  the 
baptismal  ceremony  of  the  infant  princes  of  France. 

The  complete  destruction  of  portable  objects  of  the 
Mohammedan  period  during  tiie  centuries  of  igno- 
rance and  fanaticism  which  followed  the  Reconquest 
may  be  inferred  from  the  non-existence  of  Moorish 
lamps,  necessarily  one  of  the  most  conmion  utensils 
of  both  temple  and  habitation.  It  is  a  matter  of 
historic  record  that  in  the  Great  Mosque  of  Cordova 
were  suspended  nearly  two  thousand;  and,  as  there 
were  seven  hundred  other  edifices  devoted  to  the 
worship  of  Islam  in  the  Saracen  metropolis,  the  num- 
ber in  use  in  that  city  was  obviously  immense,  and  the 
total  amount  throughout  the  empire  must  have  been 
incalculable.  And  yet,  of  all  these,  not  one  is  known 
to  have  siurived  uninjured.  The  so-called  lamp  of 
the  Alhambra,  which  was  captured  at  the  taking  of 
Oran  and  is  supposed  to  have  belonged  to  the  mosque 
of  that  palace,  is  the  only  remaining  example  of  this 
branch  of  Arab  art  once  so  flourishing,  but  which, 
with  innumerable  others,  disappeared  forever  with 
the  Castilian  occupation.  Their  connection  with  the 
detested  worship  of  Mohammed  no  doubt  supplied 
the  motive  for  this  thorough  annihilation. 

Arabic  lamps  were  of  various  metals,  gold,  silver, 
copper,  or  bronze.  They  contained  two  or  more 
lights,  placed  one  above  the  other,  their  rays  being 

Vcnu  IIL-37 


578  History  of  the 

tempered  by  a  polygonal  screen,  whose  sides  presmted 
different  patterns  in  arabesques  cast  or  carved  in  the 
metal,  producing  a  charming  effect  from  the  illumi- 
nation within.  From  the  base  usually  hung  four 
spheres  of  open-work  formed  of  lotus  or  palm  leaves 
and  pomegranates,  and  which  exhibited  verses  of 
poetry  or  Koranic  legends, — ^reminiscences  of  the 
"knops  and  flowers"  which  were  suspended  from 
each  branch  of  the  sacred  candlestick  in  the  Hebrew 
Tabernacle.  In  addition  to  metals,  glass  of  different 
colors  was  frequently  employed  in  these  works  of  art, 
whose  exquisite  finish  constituted  their  greatest  value. 
The  materials  were  almost  always  obtained  from  fhe 
spoil  of  Christian  churches, — from  the  gold  and  silver 
vessels  of  the  altar,  from  the  candelabra  and  from  the 
bells, — ^trophies  which  gratified  the  piety  of  the  Mos- 
lem, and  contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  the  pride 
and  exultation  of  victory. 

Accident  or  good  fortune  has  preserved  for  the 
examination  of  posterity  a  few  of  the  numerous  im- 
ages which  the  Arab  artists  cast  in  bronze.  Among 
them  are  a  lion  and  a  gazelle,  whose  history  cannot 
be  traced,  but  which  the  researdies  of  archaeology  have 
assigned  to  one  of  the  simiptuous  palaces  which 
adorned  the  suburbs  of  Cordova.  These  rare  and 
interesting  evidences  of  Moslem  dexterity  no  doubt 
originally  formed  part  of  a  fountain;  they  belong  to 
the  most  advanced  period  of  the  khalifate;  the  forms 
are  somewhat  grotesque,  but  the  mechanical  execution 
is  not  inferior  in  delicacy  to  that  of  the  best  examples 
of  the  present  age.  Cufic  legends  are  inscribed  upon 
them,  and  there  are  indications  that  their  eyes  were 
formed  of  precious  stones,  as  was  the  custom  in  Moor- 
ish Spain. 

The  frequent  recurrence  of  the  lion  among  ihe 
sculptures  of  Moslem  civilization  attests  the  symbolie 
importance  with  which  that  animal  was  regarded  by 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  579 

those  whose  religion  prohibited  the  representation  of 
every  species  of  animal  life.  In  Arabic  tradition  that 
royal  beast  had  acquired  an  important,  almost  a 
sacred,  significance.  With  the  eagle,  it  had  been  as- 
signed a  place  in  the  eighth  heaven  of  the  Moham- 
medan faith.  From  the  earliest  ages  its  strength  and 
ferocity  had  awakened  the  awe  of  the  superstitious 
and  imperfectly  protected  tribes  of  the  Desert.  It 
was  recognized  as  the  representative  of  power;  the 
emblem  of  energy,  nobility,  and  courage.  With  the 
Spanish  Arabs,  these  sentiments  of  fear  and  respect 
were  intensified  by  considerations  of  policy,  custom, 
and  tradition.  In  the  enchanting  gardens  of  palaces 
reared  by  the  greatest  khalif  s  stood  bronze  statues  of 
lions  with  eyes  of  rubies  and  emeralds.  They  were 
the  supporters  of  the  arms  of  the  Nazerite  kings. 
Their  marble  efBgies  guarded  the  entrance  to  the  royal 
mint.  In  the  famous  court  of  the  Alhambra,  they 
replaced  the  twelve  oxen  that  sustained  the  brazen 
laver  of  Solomon,  of  which  the  fountain  of  that  palace 
is  an  unitation.  The  Moslem  princes  of  the  Penin- 
sula gloried  in  the  title  of  "  Lion  of  Battle.*'  Arabic 
tradition  was  in  time  confirmed  and  strengthened  by 
the  influx  of  Persian  ideas  through  constant  inter- 
course with  the  Orient,  where  the  lion  was  a  symbol 
of  the  Principle  of  G!ood. 

The  art  of  damascening  metals  was,  as  the  name 
itself  implies,  of  Syrian  origin,  and  was  practised  as 
eariy  as  the  twelftii  century.  In  its  application  to 
arms  and  armor  the  Moorish  artificers  of  Spain  had 
no  superiors.  .Exquisite  specimens  of  their  skill  have 
descended  to  *our  time,  not  only  in  helmets  and  cui- 
rasses,— ^trophies  of  many  a  bloody  field, — ^but  in  the 
suits  eagerly  sought  after  in  intervals  of  peace  by 
the  knights  of  Christian  Europe.  The  arms  forged 
upon  the  Tagus»  whose  waters,  it  was  supposed,  pos- 
sessed some  peculiar  property  that  imparted  an  un- 


580  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

rivalled  temper  to  blades  of  steel,  were  famous  even 
during  the  Visigothic  domination*  Under  tiie  Moors, 
however,  the  weapons  that  issued  from  the  armories 
of  that  ancient  city  attained  their  greatest  excellence 
and  reputation.  Toledo  did  not  by  any  means  enjoy 
a  monopoly  of  this  manufacture,  which  was  carried 
on  with  great  success  in  many  other  towns;  the  swords 
of  Seville  especially  enjoyed  a  wide  and  deserved 
celebrity.  This  chosen  weapon  of  the  Arab  was  cher- 
ished with  pecular  pride  and  fondness.  Upon  its  hilt 
and  scabbard  were  lavished  the  finest  efforts  of  the 
enameller's  and  the  jeweller's  art.  The  temper  of 
its  blade  was  of  such  perfection  that  an  iron  rod  could 
be  easily  cloven  without  its  edge  exhibiting  the  sli^t- 
est  blemish.  Broad  and  heavy,  as  was  required  by  Uie 
rough  usage  they  were  destined  to  undergo,  these 
weapons  were  curiously  wrought  with  gold  and  silver 
tracery,  alternating  with  quaint  or  pious  inscriptions. 
No  nation  excelled  the  Spanish  Moslems  in  the  costly 
and  exquisite  adornment  of  their  arms.  The  hilts 
were  not  infrequently  of  massy  gold  enriched  with 
many  colored  enamels  and  set  with  gems.  The  scab- 
bards, of  purple  or  scarlet  velvet,  glittered  with  fili- 
greed  and  jewelled  mountings.  Of  most  capricious 
forms  were  the  guards,  sometimes  representing  the 
heads  of  elephants  or  dragons,  at  others  carved  in 
ovals,  globes,  and  crosses;  always  inlaid  with  ara- 
besques of  the  precious  metals,  representing  floral 
designs  and  intricate  geometrical  figures,  with  the 
omnipresent  legend,  suggestive  of  the  unquenchable 
fervor  of  the  Moslem  faith. 

The  peculiar  veneration  with  which  the  Hispano- 
Arab  regarded  his  favorite  weapon  is  thus  disclosed 
by  the  beauty  and  excellence  of  its  form  and  materials 
and  by  the  sacred  texts  inscribed  upon  its  blade. 
Many  considerations  contributed  to  invest  the  sword 
with  a  religious  character,  and  to  enhance  its  moral 


Moorish  Emfibe  in  Eusofs  581 

influence  as  well  as  its  material  value.  Its  adoption 
was  intimately  connected  with  the  most  cherished  asso- 
ciations of  the  Arab  race.  Its  use  was  derived  from 
the  Hebrews,  that  nation  of  common  ancestry,  mode 
of  life,  and  historical  traditions.  It  was  carried  by 
the  cherubim  who  guarded  the  gates  of  Paradise. 
The  Khalif  Ali,  the  son-in-law  of  Mohanuned,  whose 
valor  was  proverbial,  rejoiced  in  the  appellation  of 
the  "  Sword  of  God."  Although  not  a  weapon 
adapted  to  the  desultory  warfare  of  a  nomadic  peo- 
ple, it  had  won  the  victories  of  Islam  from  the  Pyre- 
nees to  the  Himalayas,  from  the  Oxus  to  the  equator. 
It  had  established  the  prowess  of  the  champion  of  the 
tribe  in  many  a  chivalric  encounter  before  the  cameFs- 
hair  tents  grouped  in  the  unbroken  solitude  of  the 
Desert.  Its  manufacture,  perfected  at  Damascus,  had 
travelled  to  the  Spanish  Peninsula  in  the  train  of  the 
Ommeyade  partisans,  who  sought  protection  and 
honor  under  the  beneficent  rule  of  that  famous  dy- 
nasty; and  it  was  in  Syria  that  Biblical  and  Koranic 
tradition  placed  the  forge  of  Tubal-Cain,  the  first  of 
smiths  and  armorers.  Popular  superstition  imputed 
to  it  many  mysterious  and  talismanic  attributes,  such 
as  the  emission  of  peculiar  odors  and  the  utterance  of 
a  groan  at  the  death  of  the  owner.  In  the  Arabic 
language,  as  already  stated,  a  thousand  different 
names  are  used  to  designate  the  sword,  a  fact  which 
indicates  the  significance  attaching  to  this  weapon, 
ever  in  the  hand  of  the  warrior,  as  well  as  the  infinite 
capacity  of.  the  idiom  in  which  its  varieties  and  its 
qualities  are  expressed. 

The  last  epoch  of  Moslem  civilization  was  especially 
remarkable  for  the  ingenious  processes  and  exquisite 
workmanship  developed  in  the  fabrication  of  vitreous 
mosaics  and  filigree  jewelry.  The  Moorish  craftsmen 
understood  the  difficult  art  of  encrusting  metals  with 
various  crystals  and  artificial  stones;   their  enamels 


582  HlBTOBT  OF  THE 

were  of  every  color  and  of  exceeding  fineness;  llieir 
goldsmiths  had  acquired  such  dexterity  that  they  could 
make  a  single  grain  of  that  metal,  beaten  into  a  sheet, 
cover  a  space  of  fifty-six  square  inches.  Their 
wares,  originally  Byzantine  in  style,  kept  pace  witii 
the  progress  of  other  branches  of  artistic  industry, 
and,  before  the  close  of  their  domination,  were  not 
inferior  in  any  respect  to  those  made  in  Italy  and 
Gtermany  four  centuries  afterwards. 

In  the  glyptic  art,  as  developed  by  the  Spanish 
Arabs,  the  inclination  to  the  mysterious  and  the  super- 
natural, common  to  all  members  of  the  Semitic  race, 
f oimd  full  expression.  The  traditional'  seal  of  Solo- 
mon, whose  wonderful  power  made  the  forces  of 
nature  and  the  genii  of  tiie  spirit  world  alike  subser- 
vient to  his  will,  confirmed  the  hereditary  belief  of 
the  Moslem  in  amulets,  charms,  and  talismans.  The 
device  of  that  famous  ring  is  variously  supposed  to 
have  been  the  ineffable  name  of  God,  or  a  star  formed 
by  the  combination  of  two  equilateral  triangles.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  its  magical  virtues  were  a  part  of  the 
creed  of  every  uneducated  Arab,  in  whose  mind  tiie 
idolatrous  and  superstitious  practices  of  Paganism 
seemed  ineradicable.  The  imaginary  talismanic  quali- 
ties of  certain  stones — such  as  the  camelian,  the  gar- 
net, and  the  onyx — ^had  far  more  connection  with  their 
popular  use  than  any  passion  for  ornament  or  love 
of  display.  Many  were  regarded  as  specifics  for 
various  ailments,  others  were  efficacious  in  averting  the 
malign  influences  of  sorcery.  The  engraving  of  gems 
conformed  to  the  general  principles  and  characteris- 
tics of  the  arts  as  pursued  by  the  Arabs.  The  process 
of  the  cameo  does  not  seem  to  have  been  adopted  by 
them,  but  the  word  itself,  which  does  not  exist  in  the 
vocabularies  of  antiquity,  would  seem  to  be  derived 
from  the  Arabic  kamh,  meaning  "  Jiump'*  or  "  pro- 
jection."   The  name  or  monogram  of  the  owner,  a 


Moorish  Ekfibe  in  Eubope  588 

Terse  of  the  Koran,  a  wreath  of  entwined  foliage,  a 
complex  design  of  geometric  lines  and  curves,  these 
were  the  sole  objects  upon  which  the  talents  of  the 
artist  might  be  legitimately  exercised.  As  in  ancient 
Egypt,  when  the  name  of  Deity  appeared  in  the 
inscription,  it  was  placed  on  the  highest  part  of  the 
stone;  and  this  concession  to  celestial  dignity  was 
ohserved  even  in  the  signets  of  the  proudest  of  sov- 
ereigns. Here  also  artistic  skill  was  greatly  hampered 
by  the  prohibition  relating  to  the  representation  of 
animal  life,  but  no  example  of  its  violation  in  this 
department  of  the  arts  is  known  to  exist.  The  en- 
graved stones  of  the  Spanish  Mohammedan  period 
are  notable  for  the  sharpness  of  their  lines,  the  har- 
mony of  their  patterns,  and  the  grace  and  delicacy 
of  their  ornamentation.  Signets  formed  the  greater 
number,  but  amulets  constituted  no  small  part  of  the 
productions  of  the  Moorish  lapidary.  The  hand,  sym- 
bolic of  the  five  cardinal  precepts  of  Islam,  and  the 
heart,  whose  mystic  influence  is  still  tacitly  recognized 
even  by  Christian  nations,  were  the  favorite  forms 
in  whidi  objects  of  this  kind  were  carved.  These  two 
were  considered  as  especially  efficacious  in  counter- 
acting the  dreaded  power  of  the  evil-eye.  The  inscrip- 
tion of  the  signet  was  not  only  a  mark  of  the  indi- 
viduality of  the  owner,  but  indicated  his  piety  by  its 
formulas  from  the  Koran,  a  love  of  ostentation  too 
frequently  a  trait  of  the  Arab  character,  and  hardly 
reconcilable  with  the  constantly  inculcated  spirit  of 
religious  humility.  On  the  other  hand,  the  more  de- 
vout Moslems  were  always  accustomed  to  remove  their 
rings  during  the  hour  of  prayer. 

In  none  of  the  countries  of  Europe  did  the  ceramic 
art  attain  such  excellence  in  materials,  design,  and 
execution  as  in  Mohammedan  Spain.  The  conquest 
of  Africa  was  the  first  signal  for  its  development,  and 
from  that  time  its  progress  was  steady  and  rapid. 


584  History  of  the 

The  fragments  of  porcelain  dating  from  the  khali- 
fate,  while  showing  Byzantine  features,  reveal  the 
germs  of  that  perfection  of  form  and  style  which 
characterize  the  vases  of  the  latest  period,  when  the 
products  of  the  potteries  of  Valencia  and  Malaga 
were  exported  to  the  utmost  limits  of  the  commercial 
world.  Even  the  shattered  specimens  of  unglazed 
day  that  have  come  down  to  us  are  remarkable  for 
the  symmetry  of  their  lines,  and  suggest  the  finest 
models  of  Grecian  and  Roman  origin.  The  influence 
of  Persia — ^whose  colonists  settled  at  Granada,  and 
whose  traditions  exerted  such  a  marked  effect  upon 
the  civilization  of  the  Peninsula — ^is  plainly  discern- 
ible in  all  the  most  elaborate  efforts  of  the  potter's 
skill.  Besides  the  island  of  Majorca,  whose  towns 
were  noted  for  their  ceramic  wares,  eight  cities  of 
Moorish  Spain  were  engaged  in  this  lucrative  and 
artistic  branch  of  industry.  Of  these  Malaga  ranked 
first;  the  extraordinary  lustre  by  which  her  ceramics 
were  distinguished  defied  imitation.  The  peculiarity 
of  this  pottery  consisted  in  the  brilliancy  of  the 
enamels,  into  which  one  or  more  metals  were  intro- 
duced in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  interfere  with  its 
transparency  and  yet  to  retain  all  the  beautiful  reflec- 
tion to  be  obtained  from  a  metallic  surface.  This 
unique  appearance  has  been  supposed  by  some  writers 
to  have  been  produced  by  alloys  of  different  kinds,  laid 
in  a  stratum  of  almost  inconceivable  thinness  upon 
the  bisque.  By  this  means  a  play  of  colors,  iridescent 
in  character,  was  obtained,  whose  brilliancy  or  soft- 
ness was  dependent  upon  the  predominance  of  one 
or  the  other  of  the  metals  employed.  The  glaze  was 
effected  by  the  application  of  silicates.  In  this 
method  of  decoration  silver  and  copper  were  most 
frequently  used,  along  with  those  gorgeous  colors 
whose  harmonious  adaptation  to  ornament  of  every 
description  was  so  thoroughly  understood  by  the 


MooEiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  586 

Moorish  artist.  When  the  copper  was  united  with 
silver  the  latter  diminished  the  intensity  of  lustre, 
and  produced  the  most  superb  effects.  The  com- 
binations of  different  metals  exhibited  an  indefinite 
variety  of  beautiful  hues,  whose  exquisite  delicacy 
could  only  be  compared  to  the  iris-like  refraction  of 
mother-of-pearl.  This  singular  process  imparted  the 
double  quality  of  transparency  and  distinctness  of 
coloring  in  a  very  hi^h  degree,  for,  examined  at  an 
angle  and  in  a  strong  light,  the  sheen  of  the  metallic 
ingredients  could  be  readily  discerned,  while  at  the 
same  time  the  tints  which  formed  the  base  of  the 
ornamentation  appeared  with  undiminished  brilliancy 
through  the  shining  and  transparent  enamel.  It  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  observe  that  the  finishing  opera- 
tions of  these  works  of  art  demanded  the  greatest 
skiU  and  experience. 

The  forms  of  the  Hispano-Arab  vases  were  sugges- 
tive of  those  of  the  classic  amphoras.  Largest  above 
the  centre,  and  tapering  rapidly  towards  the  base,  they 
were  designed  to  be  placed  in  metallic  stands  or  upon 
hollow  wooden  pedestals.  Their  curves  were  exceed- 
ingly graceful,  their  decorations  most  profuse  and 
elaborate.  The  handles  were  large  and  massive;  in 
some  instances  covered  with  arabesques,  in  others  rep- 
resenting hands  grasping  human  eyes, — ^talismans 
against  demoniac  influence.  The  designs  of  the  latter 
were  often  radically  different  in  the  same  vase,  yet 
they  harmonized  so  perfectly  with  the  work  as  a 
whole  that  the  closest  inspection  was  required  to  detect 
any  want  of  resemblance.  The  colors  most  affected 
by  the  Arab  potter  were  blue,  white,  black,  brown, 
and  yellow,  and  their  dexterous  and  exquisite  combi- 
nations afford  convincing  proof  of  his  remarkable 
proficiency. 

While  this  industry — probably  originally  derived 
from  Assyria  and  Egypt — ^was  improved  by  the 


586  HiSIOBT  OF  THE 

Etruscans  and  brought  to  perfection  by  Greece  and 
Rome,  it  disappeared  with  the  influx  of  the  barbarians, 
who  trampled  in  the  dust  every  token  of  European 
civilization.  Revived  during  the  early  years  of  the 
khalif  ate,  its  history  is  a  record  of  continued  improve- 
ment 

The  traditions  of  the  Orient,  the  models  of  an- 
tiquity, the  absorbing  passion  of  the  Persian  for 
flowers,  were  all  adopted  and  perpetuated  in  Mo- 
hammedan Spain.  The  beauties  of  the  rose  and  the 
tulip  were  celebrated  alike  by  the  poets  of  Andalusia 
and  Cashmere;  and  the  national  predilection  for  the 
blossom  of  the  latter  is  recalled  by  its  appearance  upon 
the  magnificent  and  unique  vase  of  the  Alhambra. 
The  Moorish  potters  did  not  restrict  themselves  to  the 
more  brilliant  colors ;  they  possessed  also  neutral  tints, 
and,  by  the  skilful  blendiSag  of  both,  succeeded  in 
producing  that  perfect  harmony  of  design  and  tone 
which  is  perhaps  the  greatest  charm  of  their  artistic 
efl'orts.  They  anticipated  by  three  hundred  years  the 
methods  rediscovered  by  Palissy,  which  wrought  sudi 
a  revolution  in  the  manufacture  of  porcelain.  The 
Moorish  secret  of  metallic  enamelling  is  now  com- 
pletely lost,  along  with  the  pre-eminence  once  enjoyed 
by  Spain  in  every  department  of  the  ceramic  art,  and 
few  specimens  of  pottery  of  undoubted  Arabic  origin 
remain.  The  royal  ordinances  published  by  Ferdi- 
nand IV.  and  Charles  V.,  at  the  instance  of  the 
Inquisition,  prohibited  the  possession  of  articles  of 
Moorish  manufacture,  and  were,  no  doubt,  directly 
instrumental  in  causing  the  destruction  of  innumer- 
able objects  of  priceless  value,  whose  discovery  might 
result  in  the  confiscation  of  property  and  a  lingering 
death  by  torture. 

The  mosaics  which  were  such  a  prominent  factor  of 
the  architectural  decoration  of  the  Mohammedan 
period  constituted  a  notable  branch  of  this  important 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  587 

industry*  The  use  of  vitrified  materials  in  building 
is  an  art  of  high  antiquity.  It  was  familiar  to  India, 
China,  Assyria,  long  anterior  to  the  dawn  of  historical 
narration.  Glazed  tiles  were  used  in  the  palaces  of 
Chaldea  twenty-three  hundred  years  before  the  Chris- 
tian era.  They  covered  the  interior  walls  of  the  pyra- 
mid of  Sakkarah,  the  oldest  in  Egypt.  The  frag- 
mentary specimens  found  in  the  ruins  of  Assyrian 
cities  are  identical  in  color  with  those  preferred  by 
the  Arabs.  The  Greeks  employed  them  in  the  embel- 
lishment of  the  temple  of  Theseus.  They  were  adopted 
by  the  Arabs  in  the  construction  of  the  tomb  of  Mo- 
hammed. Among  the  Moors  of  Spain,  the  process 
reached  its  greatest  development,  and  the  permanent 
character  which  distinguishes  it  has  preserved  for  the 
admiration  of  modem  times  some  of  the  most  original 
artistic  effects  wrought  by  the  prolific  genius  of  His- 
pano-Arab  civilization.  Suggested  by  the  Byzantine 
mosaics,  from  which,  however,  it  differed  essentially 
in  material  and  design,  it  was  never  able  to  rival  them 
in  splendor,  although  in  durability  it  far  surpassed 
those  rich  and  brilliant  productions  of  the  artists  of 
Constantinople.  The  patterns  of  the  latter  were 
floral,  those  of  the  former  geometrical.  In  the  one, 
the  effects  were  produced  by  colors  seen  through  mi- 
nute cubes  of  glass;  in  the  other,  by  intricate  combi- 
nations of  opaque  pieces  of  porcelain. 

Like  all  articles  manufactured  in  the  Moorish  pot- 
teries of  Spain,  mosaics  were  subjected  to  a  long  and 
tedious  method  of  preparation.  They  underwent  a 
threefold  baking  process  before  and  after  painting 
and  when  glazed.  Metals  were  used  in  their  compo- 
sition, and  in  rare  instances  the  peculiar  iridescent 
decoration  for  which  Malaga  was  renowned  was  em- 
ployed. The  evident  costliness  of  this  must  have 
prevented  its  adoption,  except  in  edifices  of  the  great- 


588  History  of  the 

est  importance,  for  no  example  of  it  exists  even  in 
the  Alhambra. 

The  fabrication  of  leathern  hangings — ^whose  sur- 
face exhibited  the  play  of  many  hues  brightened  witii 
gold  and  silver — ^was  early  one  of  the  specialties  of 
Cordovan  industry,  from  which  city  it  derived  its 
name.  Superb  effects  must  have  been  produced  by 
this  curious  tapestry,  embossed  and  gilded,  stamped 
and  embroidered  with  graceful  arabesques,  and  sus- 
pended between  rich  and  capricious  cornices  of  stucco 
and  dadoes  blazing  with  a  score  of  colors  in  mosaic 
These  elegant  hangings  find  no  counterpart  in  modem 
decorative  art  save  perhaps  in  the  finest  binding  of  a 
book.  Goatskins  formed  the  material,  but  the  process 
by  which  they  were  prepared  and  ornamented  passed 
away  from  ihe  Peninsula  with  the  expulsion  of  the 
Moriscoes,  and  its  memory  alone  remains  in  the  leather 
of  Morocco,  the  most  valuable  known  to  commerce. 

In  the  perfection  of  their  textile  fabrics,  the  Span- 
ish Moors  demonstrated  their  infinite  superiority  to 
aU  contemporaneous  nations.  In  other  kingdoms  of 
Europe,  silk  was  reserved  for  the  use  of  royalty. 
Constantinople  alone,  by  reason  of  its  relations  witii 
the  Orient,  was  able  to  provide  a  limited  supply  of 
this  precious  material.  From  Sicily  the  manufacture 
had  been  introduced  into  Spain,  and,  as  already  men- 
tioned, was  the  most  lucrative  industry  of  Granada  in 
the  days  of  its  greatest  prosperity.  After  ihe  elev- 
enth century,  in  botii  those  countries  all  classes  used 
this  fabric,  elsewhere  regarded  as  so  valuable;  the 
garments  of  men  and  women  of  the  middle  dass  of 
Granada  were  made  of  it,  as  were  also  the  uniforms 
of  the  royal  guards  of  Norman  Palermo.  The  light- 
ness and  strength  of  these  silks  were  remarkable,  and 
their  beautiful  ornamentation  displayed  to  llie  utmost 
the  finished  efforts  of  the  designer  and  the  artisan. 
The  great  Moslem  banner  captured  at  Ihe  battle  of 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  589 

Las  Navas  de  Tolosa  and  preserved  in  the  Abbey  of 
Las  Huelgas  near  Burgos  is  an  elegant  example  of 
tiie  weaver's  art  Upon  the  ground  of  crimson  silk 
appear  inscriptions,  medallions,  and  interlacing 
curves,  interwoven  in  blue,  white,  green,  and  yellow. 
The  harmonious  arrangement  of  these  colors  denotes 
the  exercise  of  the  greatest  taste  and  dexterity. 
Throughout  the  maze  of  graceful  designs  the  name 
of  Grod  appears  ibousands  of  times,  emblazoned  in 
gold.  In  the  patterns  of  the  cloaks  and  robes  of 
royal  personages,  mingled  with  brilliantly  tinted  ara- 
besques, rich  floral  embroidery,  and  formulas  from 
the  Koran,  appeared  portraits  of  the  owners,  in  the 
colors  of  nature,  depicted  with  consummate  skill.  The 
tiraz,  or  tunic  of  Hischem  II.,  preserved  in  the  Mu- 
seum of  the  Academy  of  History  at  Madrid,  is  the 
only  specimen  of  this  branch  of  the  textile  fabrics  for 
which  the  khalifate  of  Spain  was  so  celebrated  now 
to  be  found  in  the  world. 

Modem  science  with  all  its  improvements  has  never 
been  able  to  equal  in  strength  and  delicacy  of  texture 
the  products  of  the  Moorish  looms  of  the  Peninsula. 
The  extraordinary  permanence  of  the  dyes  employed 
in  these  fabrics  constitutes  one  of  their  best  established 
claims  to  superior  excellence.  Of  the  few  examples 
which  have  survived  the  revolutions  of  ages,  little,  if 
any,  diminution  of  brilliancy  in  color  is  discernible. 
In  this  department  of  industry,  also,  Asiatic  influence, 
traiismitted  successively  through  Byzantine  and  Sicil- 
ian channels,  was  disclosed  in  the  manufactures  of 
Mohammedan  Spain,  a  country  whose  life  and  tra- 
ditions have  bequeathed  to  our  times  so  many  im- 
pressive reminiscences  of  the  luxurious  Orient.  In 
numerous  other  fields  of  industry  was  the  artistic 
and  inventive  spirit  of  the  Hispano-Arab  artisan 
developed, — in  damascened  treasure-chests  of  iron  and 
steel,  the  complicated  structure  of  whose  locks  is  the 


500  HiSTOST  OF  THE 

wonder  of  ilie  mechanic  of  to-day;  in  furniture,  inlaid 
with  precious  and  aromatic  woods,  and  embellished 
with  ebony,  tortoise-shell,  and  pearl;  in  gem-incrusted 
caskets  of  ivory  and  onyx  which  Christian  supersti- 
tion has  not  deemed  unworthy  to  enshrine  the  relics 
of  her  saints;  in  manuscripts,  upon  whose  bindings 
fortunes  were  lavished,  embossed  with  jewels,  glitter- 
ing with  silver,  lapis-lazuli,  malachite,  and  gold. 

The  art  of  calligraphy,  so  greatly  appredated  by 
the  Arabs  that  it  was  styled  The  Gk)lden  Profession, 
and  in  which  the  Spanish  Moslems  acquired  extraordi- 
nary proficiency,  was  developed,  under  the  Khalif  ates 
of  both  the  East  and  West,  to  a  condition  of  almost 
absolute  perfection.  Before  the  invention  of  paper, 
their  parchments  exhibited  a  luxury  which  far  sur- 
passed that  of  the  Byzantines,  until  that  time  the 
most  renowned  calligraphists  in  the  world.  The  skins 
they  used  had  a  groimd  of  gold  or  silver  or  were  dyed 
of  various  colors, — scarlet,  green,  purple,  blue,  and 
black;  their  lustre  was  so  great  that  they  reflected 
light  like  the  polished  surface  of  a  mirror.  Their 
inks  were  also  of  many  kinds;  their  brilliancy  and 
durability  exceeded  those  of  any  known  to  modem 
manufacture;  the  writing  in  distinctness,  accuracy  of 
alignment,  and  elegance — ^accomplishments  in  winA 
the  Mussulmans  of  Spain,  who  wrote  a  peculiarly 
graceful  hand,  excelled  all  the  other  nations  of  Islam 
— ^rivalled  the  most  finished  labors  of  the  compositor; 
in  epistles  and  documents  destined  for  royidty  like 
characters  were  written  in  liquid  gold.  The  manu- 
scripts were  enriched  with  illuminations,  an  art  wfaidi, 
carried  into  France  and  Italy,  was  subsequently  bor- 
rowed by  the  mediaeval  monks,  whose  missals  repre- 
sent the  highest,  and,  indeed,  almost  the  sole,  artistic 
manifestations  of  their  time.  The  designs  of  the 
Arabs  were  not  only  geometric,  floral,  and  grotesque, 
lliey  included  medallion  portraits  and  representations 


Moorish  Empire  in  Eubofe  591 

of  men  and  animals  delineated  with  astonishing  skill. 
These  products  of  Moorish  talent  and  ingenuity 
have,  so  far  as  is  known  at  present,  entirely  perished; 
their  curiously  wrought  borders,  without  the  mysteri- 
ous and  unintelligible  script  which  was  supposed  to 
contain  formulas  for  the  invocation  of  evil  spirits, 
were  alone  sufficient  to  proscribe  them. 

The  knowledge  of  the  various  mechanical  processes 
referred  to  in  this  chapter — ^methods  by  which  the 
artistic  conceptions  of  Arabic  genius  were  endowed 
with  form  and  stability — ^has  absolutely  vanished. 
Not  only  is  this  the  fact,  but  even  all  tangible  evi- 
dences, upon  whose  existence  was  dependent  the 
reputation  for  proverbial  dexterity  enjoyed  by  the 
Moorish  artisan,  have  been  destroyed,  and  we  are 
forced  to  rely  for  their  enumeration  and  character 
upon  the  vague  and  imperfect  accounts  of  ill-informed 
and  often  unfriendly  historians.  In  the  eyes  of  the 
fanatic  Castilian,  everjrthing  derived  from  Moslem 
sources  was  necessarily  tainted  with  heresy.  The 
articles  of  luxury  displayed  in  such  profusion  by  the 
vanquished  were  indisputable  proofs  of  mental  supe- 
riority, and,  as  such,  offensive  to  his  pride.  He  de- 
nounced the  splendidly  bound  and  embossed  volumes 
of  the  libraries  as  magic  scrolls,  whose  contents  should 
be  regarded  by  good  Christians  with  every  demon- 
stration of  aversion  and  contempt.  The  mysterious 
and  unfamiliar  characters  of  the  Arabic  alphabet 
assumed  in  his  superstitious  eyes  the  symbols  of  witch- 
craft, sorcery,  and  incantation.  He  hastened  to  pro- 
hibit the  use  or  preservation  of  the  souvenirs  of  Mos- 
lem culture  and  power  by  sumptuary  laws,  whose 
provisions  were  enforced  by  every  resource  of  original 
and  ingenious  cruelty.  In  the  estimation  of  the  clergy, 
Mohammedanism,  blasphemy,  and  scientific  knowledge 
were,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  synonymous  terms. 
Without  taste  to  admire  or  capacity  to  emulate  the 


502  HlfiTOBT  OF  THE 

achievements  of  Arabian  skill,  alike  inestimable  for 
their  variety  and  excellence,  they  could  at  least  anni- 
hilate the  material  evidences  of  that  civilization  whose 
monuments  were  at  once  an  open  challenge  and  a 
secret  reproach.  How  thoroughly  this  congenial  task 
was  performed  has  been  described  in  these  pages.  No 
people  mentioned  in  history  who  rose  to  eminence  in 
the  various  arts  that  contribute  to  national  glory  or 
domestic  happiness  have  left  behind  them  so  few 
memorials  upon  which  their  title  to  superiority  can  be 
founded.  But  while  the  architectural  remains  have 
been  defaced  and  destroyed,  tibe  libraries  abandoned 
to  the  flames,  the  mechanical  processes  that  gave  to 
the  world  artistic  results  unrivalled  in  that  age  and 
unapproached  in  this,  have  been  neglected  and  for- 
gotten, priceless  treasures,  representing  years  of  in- 
dustry, broken  to  pieces  for  the  sake  of  tiie  materials 
of  which  they  were  composed,  tens  of  thousands  of 
skilful  artisans  exiled,  plundered,  murdered,  there  still 
remained  in  the  public  mind  the  impression  insensibly 
produced  by  contact  with  a  race  of  superior  attain- 
ments, which,  in  its  turn,  was  destined  to  form  ihe 
germ  of  a  new  and  far  more  widely  extended  civili- 
zation. 

Africa,  despite  its  innate  barbarism,  exercised  some 
influence  on  the  arts  in  Spain.  As  the  Moslem  con- 
quest was  planned  in  that  country,  so  it  subsequently 
became  the  avenue  by  which  ardhitectural  and  artistic 
ideas  were  transmitted  to  the  people  of  the  Peninsula, 
many  of  whom  were  natives  of  its  soil.  By  the  latter, 
still  imder  the  spell  of  Ommeyade  culture  and  tradi- 
tions, the  crude,  robust,  and  semi-barbaric  conceptions 
of  Mauritania  were,  however,  soon  refined  and  im- 
proved beyond  recognition.  The  door  of  the  Mosque 
of  the  Aljaferia  at  Saragossa,  and  an  arch  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Tarragona,  are  almost  the  only  remain- 
ing examples  of  the  primitive  African  style.     The 


Moorish  Emfibe  m  EtntoFS  598 

Almohade  princes  made  a  more  distinct  and  perma- 
nent impression  on  architecture  lihan  any  sovereigns 
who  had  preceded  them.  They  introduced  many  novel 
and  striking  features  in  exterior  miu*al  ornamentation. 
They  were  the  first  to  make  use  of  the  raised  terra- 
cotta work,  the  graceful  festoons,  the  glazed  bricks 
of  many  colors,  which  render  the  Qiralda  of  Seville 
the  most  elaborate  and  majestic  tower  ever  reared  by 
the  hand  of  an  architect.  While  the  largest  and  most 
superb,  this  magnificent  minaret  had  yet  many  coun- 
terparts, in  all  but  size,  throughout  the  provinces  of 
Moorish  Spain.  Those  attached  to  the  mosques  of 
Toledo,  Valencia,  and  Almeria  were  but  little  inferior 
to  it  in  elegance.  Their  promifience,  and  the  uses  to 
which  they  were  destined,  were  sufficient  to  insure  their 
early  demolition.  The  modified  African  style  differed 
from  that  of  the  khalif ate  in  that  it  was  more  florid 
than  graceful,  and  exhibited  a  barbaric  love  of  pomp 
rather  than  an  inclination  to  observe  the  principles  of 
good  taste  and  just  architectural  proportion. 

The  artistic  relics  of  a  people  are  the  surest  criterion 
of  its  manual  dexterity,  its  material  progress,  its  in- 
tellectual culture.  The  paucity  of  souvenirs  relating 
to  the  Hispano-Arab  period  has  in  certain  quarters, 
as  already  mentioned,  raised  serious  doubts  as  to  the 
claim  of  that  race  to  mediaeval  supremacy. 

The  same  skepticism  as  to  the  influence  of  the  liter- 
ary and  philosophical  principles  adopted  and  promul- 
gated by  the  Mohammedans  of  Spain  prevailed  for 
centuries.  After  a  closer  acquaintance  with  the  edu- 
cational facilities  they  possessed,  the  scientific  methods 
they  employed,  the  intimate  mercantile  relations  they 
established  with  every  state  accessible  to  commerce,  the 
extent  of  that  influence  becomes  strikingly  apparent. 
Even  among  the  descendants  of  the  conqueror,  bound 
by  faith  and  tradition  to  eternal  hostility,  it  was,  and 
is  still,  manifested  in  a  thousand  forms.    There  is  to- 

VoL.  III.-58 


594  HiSTOBT  OF  THE 

day  in  the  Spaniard  far  more  of  the  romantic  and 
artistic  temperament  of  the  Saracen,  whose  blood  is 
a  reproach,  than  of  the  sullen  ferocity  of  the  Goth, 
whose  lineage  is  the  glory  of  Castilian  ancestry.  Rem- 
iniscences of  that  domination  whidi  seven  c^itories 
of  warfare  were  required  to  overtim>w  survive  in  the 
forms  and  omanientation  of  garments;  in  the  terms, 
the  construction  and  the  pronimdation  of  language; 
in  the  crude  imitation  of  mosaic  effects;  in  the  florid 
sculpture  of  magnificent  cathedrals.  In  other  coun- 
tries of  Southern  Europe,  their  traces,  while  not  so 
marked  or  general,  are  none  the  less  distinguishable; 
Moorish  customs  •and  traditions,  eminently  conge- 
nial to  the  national  disposition  of  Gaul  and  Latin, 
reacted  strongly  upon  tiie  literary  and  social  life  of 
France  and  Italy.  In  the  latter  country  the  glowing 
artistic  conceptions  of  the  Arab  speedily  succumbed 
to  the  onmipresent  examples  of  classic  genius;  in 
France  they  were  somewhat  more  persistent;  in  both 
countries  they  exercised  no  unimportant  influence  in 
the  suppression  of  barbarism,  in  the  promotion  of 
efforts  that  tend  to  the  material  improvement  of 
society,  in  the  cultivation  of  politeness,  in  the  revival 
of  letters. 


Moorish  Empibb  in  Eubofe  595 


CHAPTER  XXX 

AOBICULTUBE,  MAKUFACTXntES,  AND  COMMERCE  OF 
THE  EUROPEAN  MOSLEMS.  THEIR  MANNERS,  CUS- 
TOMS, AND  AMUSEMENTS 

750-1609 

Disappearance  of  the  Memorials  of  Arab*  Civilisation — ^Agricul- 
tural System  of  the  Spanish  Moors — Its  Wonderful  Per- 
fection— Irrigating  Apparatus — ^The  Tribunal  of  the  Waters 
— The  Works  of  Ibn-al-Awam  —  Universal  Cultivation  of 
the  Soil — Mineral  Resources  of  the  Peninsula — Manufac- 
tures— ^The  Great  Moslem  Emporiums  of  the  Mediterranean 

—  Commerce  —  Its  Extensive  Ramificati9ns  —  Articles  of 
Traffic  —  Commercial  Prosperity  of  Sicily  —  The  Magnetic 
Needle — Gunpowder  and  Artillery — ^War — Coinage — Char- 
acteristics of  the  Khalifs — Demoralization  of  the  People — 
The  Bath — General  Prevalence  of  Superstition — Social  Life 
of  the  Moslems  of  Europe — Privileges  of  Women — Polyg- 
amy and  Morals — Slavery — ^Amusements — The  Game  of 
Chess  —  Other  Pastimes  —  Dances  —  Music  —  Equestrian 
Sports — The  Bull-Fight— The  Tilt  of  Reeds— The  Course 
of  the  Rings  —  Hawking  —  Peculiarities  of  Hispano-Arab 
Civilisation — The  Crusades — Their  Effect  on  Christendom 

—  Unrivalled  Achievements  of  the  Moors  in  Europe  — 
Conclusion. 

In  all  the  vast  domain  of  historical  inquiry  there 
is  probably  no  subject  which  has  been  treated  with 
such  studied  neglect,  with  such  flagrant  injustice,  as 
the  civilization  of  the  Arabs  in  the  Spanish  Penin- 
sula. Its  story  has  been  written  in  the  majority  of 
instances  by  tiie  implacable  enemies  of  those  who 
founded  and  promoted  it.  Theological  hatred  has 
lent  its  potent  aid  to  the  prejudice  of  race  and  the 
eavj  arising  from  conscious  inferiority  to  deny  or 


596  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

belittle  its  achievements.  The  greatest  of  MooriA 
princes  have  been  represented  by  zealous  but  malig- 
nant churchmen  as  barbarians,  persecutors,  idolaters. 
The  accumulated  wisdom  and  labor  of  centuries  mani- 
fested in  rare  copies  of  the  literary  treasures  of  an- 
tiquity, chronicles  descriptive  of  epochs  now  veiled 
in  hopeless  obsciuity,  elegant  productions  of  the  most 
accomplished  poets  of  Cordova  and  Seville,  innumer- 
able treatises  of  mathematical  and  physical  science, 
have  been  consigned  to  the  flames  by  ignorant  prel- 
ates, who  regarded  these  precious  works  as  copies 
of  the  Koran  or  works  on  magic  and  necromancy. 
Others,  which  the  negligence  of  clerical  enmity  per- 
mitted to  escape  for  the  time,  were  subsequently 
ruined  by  damp,  by  insects,  by  accidental  con^agra- 
tion.  The  carelessness  of  inappredative  governments, 
aided  by  the  stupidity  of  the  masses  and  the  innate 
levelling  tendencies  of  the  imeducated,  the  invasions 
of  foreign  armies  and  the  vicissitudes  of  revolution, 
have  wrought  the  partial  or  complete  destruction  of 
many  of  the  noblest  monuments  of  architectural  gen- 
ius that  ever  illustrated  the  history  of  any  people. 
The  dejSled  ruins  of  mosque  and  palace,  the  mutilated 
fragments  of  products  of  the  industrial  arts  whose 
form  and  materials  indicate  the  highest  degree  of  me- 
chanical knowledge  and  classical  culture,  the  remains 
of  that  wonderful  system  of  irrigation,  whose  per- 
fection was  the  secret  of  Moorish  prosperity  and  opu- 
lence, constitute  almost  all  the  remaining  data  by 
whose  aid  we  may  attempt  to  picture  the  splendors  and 
the  glory  of  the  mighty  Khalifate  of  the  West.  No 
just  idea  of  the  greatness  and  power  of  the  Peninsula 
imder  the  Onmieyade  sovereigns  can  be  formed  from 
the  present  condition  of  even  those  states  whose  in- 
habitants in  physical  aspect,  mental  disposition,  man- 
ners, habits,  and  industry  have  preserved,  in  a  striking 
degree,  the  characteristics  of  their  Mohammedan  pro- 
genitors. 


MooEisH  Empibs  in  Europe  597 

^  It  has  been  happily  remarked  that  '"  facts  are  the 
mere  dross  of  history."  The  rise  and  fall  of  dynas- 
ties, the  evolutions  of  armies,  the  recital  of  battles, 
sieges,  and  skirmishes,  the  enumeration  of  captives 
and  booty,  the  exultation  of  the  victor,  the  distress  of 
the  vanquished,  the  crimes  and  excesses  engendered 
by  sedition,  have,  it  is  true,  in  all  periods  of  the  world, 
been  considered  the  most  important,  often  the  only, 
subjects  worthy  of  historical  narration.  These,  how- 
ever, are  but  the  manifestations  of  conditions  upon 
which  are  dependent  all  tliat  is  valuable  and  all  that 
is  instructive  in  the  noble  science  which  depicts  the 
occurrences  of  past  ages.  The  true  interest  and  utility 
of  that  science,  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  the 
lessons  it  teaches,  the  warnings  pronounced  by  the  tri- 
umphs or  the  disgrace  of  its  heroes,  the  application 
of  principles  by  which  universal  prosperity  may  be 
advanced  and  national  disaster  dimini^ed  or  wholly 
averted,  are  not  usually  apparent  to  the  superficial 
and  careless  observer.  They  are  to  be  laboriously 
traced  in  the  analysis  of  the  incentives  of  human 
actions;  in  the  gradual  development  of  schemes  of 
ambition;  in  the  contention  of  religious  sects  for 
political  supremacy;  in  the  exhibition  of  the  preju- 
dices, the  foibles,  the  superstitions  of  mankind;  in  the 
incessant  mutations  of  social  life;  in  the  delineation 
of  manners.  No  event  is  too  trivial,  no  custom  too 
unimportant  for  notice,  which,  by  even  its  most  remote 
consequences,  may  serve  to  disclose  the  motives  of  a 
government  or  illustrate  the  policy  of  a  nation.  The 
prevalence  of  certain  habits,  the  existence  of  certain 
inclinations  are  often  of  more  weight  in  determining 
the  career  of  a  people  than  the  fortunate  issue  of  a 
campaign  or  the  disastrous  result  of  a  revolution. 
It  is  in  the  chronicle  of  prosaic,  every-day  existence 
that  we  must  search  for  the  origin  of  momentous 
events,  that  we  must  study  the  philosophy  of  history. 


698  History  of  thx 

One  great  cause  of  the  phenomenally  rapid  estab- 
lishment of  Islam  was  polygamy,  which  absolutely 
confiscated  the  means  of  racial  propagation.  Moham- 
med, like  Moses  and  all  other  ancient  lawgivers,  recog- 
nized and  inculcated  the  supreme  importance  of  the 
increase  of  mankind, — ^a  principle  on  which  was 
founded  Phallic  Worship  as  well  as  the  widely  dif- 
fused practice  of  Communal  Marriage.  The  vast 
power  of  its  empire  was  dependent  upon  tiie  culture 
of  the  soil  and  the  marketing  of  the  products  of  labor, 
in  which  no  people  were  more  successful  than  the 
Arabs.  Its  decline  is  attributable  to  the  many  inherent 
faults  of  its  political  and  religious  organization;  to 
the  uncertain  course  of  royal  succession;  to  the 
implacable  spirit  of  tribal  enmity  whidi  survived  and  * 
dominated  every  other  feeling;  to  the  inevitable  want 
of  harmonious  co-operation  existing  between  the  nu- 
merous and  conflicting  elements  representing  a  «core 
of  nations  governed  by  force;  to  the  treasonable 
sdiemes  of  zealots,  envious  of  the  consideration  ex- 
tended to  literary  merit;  to  the  social  corruption  inci- 
dent to  a  society  abandoned  to  boundless  prodigality, 
vice,  and  luxury. 

The  agricultural  system  of  tiie  Spanish  Moham- 
medans, who  understood  the  soil  and  the  resources  of 
their  country  better  than  any  nation  that  has  ever 
inhabited  it,  was  the  most  complex,  the  most  scientific, 
the  most  perfect,  ever  devised  by  the  ingenuity  of 
man.  Its  principles  were  derived  from  the  extreme 
Orient,  from  the  plains  of  Mesopotamia,  and  from 
the  valley  of  the  Nile, — ^those  gardens  of  the  ancient 
world  where,  centuries  before  the  dawn  of  authentic 
history,  the  cultivation  of  the  eartih  had  been  carried 
to  a  state  of  extraordinary  excellence.  To  the 
knowledge  thus  appropriated  were  added  the  results 
obtained  from  investigation  and  experiment;  from 
the  introduction  of  foreign  plants;  from  the  adoption 


Moorish  Empibb  m  Europe  599 

of  fertilizing  substances;  from  dose  and  intelligent 
observation  of  the  effects  of  geographical  distribution 
and  climatic  influence. 

The  statesmanlike  policy  pursued  by  the  khalifs 
was  productive  of  incalcidable  advantage  to  every 
branch  of  agriculture.  As  previously  stated,  accom- 
plished botanists,  provided  with  unlimited  f  imds,  were 
regularly  despatdied  to  the  most  fertile  regions  of 
the  East, — ^to  Egypt,  Mesopotamia,  Hindustan, — 
under  instructions  to  collect  seeds  of  useful  plants 
and  fruits  for  experimental  cultivation  in  the  royal 
demesnes.  There  is  scarcely  a  country  in  the  tem- 
perate zone  to-day  which  has  attained  to  even  a  mod- 
erate degree  of  civilization,  whose  inhabitants  are  not 
the  beneficiaries  of  this  zeal  for  agricultural  improve- 
ment constantly  manifested  by  the  sovereigns  of 
Moorish  Spain,  nor  one,  unhappily,  which  is  willing 
to  even  reluctantly  concede  to  those  entitled  to  the 
gratitude  of  nations  csedit  for  that  progressive  spirit 
which  has  contributed  so  essentially  to  the  physical 
well-being  and  advancement  of  mankind. 

The  divine  origin  assigned  to  agriculture  by  Arabic 
as  well  as  by  Persian  tradition  had  almost  as  much 
to  do  with  its  development  as  the  imperative  neces- 
sity which  demanded  its  practice.  The  rural  economy 
of  every  people  was  diligently  explored  for  advan- 
tageous suggestions  by  the  Moors  of  the  Peninsula. 
Their  tastes,  although  the  pursuits  of  their  ancestors 
were  pastoral  and  manual  labor  of  every  description 
is  distasteful  to  a  nomadic  and  predatory  race,  seemed 
to  adapt  themselves  at  once  to  the  circumstances  of 
their  new  environment.  Their  progress  in  that  science 
is  not  less  striking  than  the  rapid  succession  of  their 
military  triumphs.  No  nation  in  so  short  a  period 
achieved  such  extensive  and  important  conquests.  No 
people  so  quietly  abandoned  the  excitements  result- 
ing from  tiie  profession  of  arms  and  embraced  the 


600  HiSIOBY  OF  THE 

toils  of  a  sedentary  life  as  the  Arabs  of  the  Peninsula. 
No  sooner  did  they  change  their  mode  of  existence 
than  they  began  to  excel  in  the  new  pursuits  to  which 
they  devoted  themselves.  Many  inducements  were 
afforded  by  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  whose  results, 
despite  its  hardships,  seemed  to  more  than  eoimter- 
balance  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  life  in  large 
communities.  The  Koran  declared  it  to  be  especially 
meritorious.  The  air  of  the  country,  like  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  Desert,  seemed  congenial  to  indepen- 
dence. The  vast  estates  acquired  by  the  followers  of 
Musa,  their  wealth,  and  the  social  superiority  which 
they  assumed,  did  much  to  incite  others  to  emulate 
their  example.'  In  villages  and  on  plantations  larger 
harems  could  be  maintained,  and  more  numerous 
families  could  be  reared  than  in  cities, — considerations 
of  great  weight  in  the  mind  of  the  luxurious  and  am- 
bitious Moslem.  Every  encouragement  was  afforded 
by  a  succession  of  wise  and  generous  rulers  to  those 
who  embraced  an  agricultural  life.  A  considerable 
portion  of  the  country  which  had  never  been  subjected 
to  tillage  because  of  its  aridity  became  suddenly  meta- 
morphosed, as  if  by  the  wand  of  an  enchanter.  Bar- 
ren valleys  were  transferred  into  flourishing  orchards 
of  olives,  oranges,  figs,  and  pomegranates.  Rocky 
slopes  were  covered  with  verdant  terraces.  In  dis- 
tricts where,  according  to  ancient  tradition,  no  water 
had  ever  been  seen,  now  flowed  noisy  rivulets  and 
broad  canals.  Where  marshes  existed,  the  rich  lands 
they  concealed  were  drained,  reclaimed,  and  placed 
under  thorough  cultivation.  On  all  sides  were  visible 
the  works  of  the  hydraulic  engineer, — ^which  supplied 
the  necessary  moisture  to  the  flelds  by  every  device 
then  known  to  human  skill, — ^the  reservoir,  the  well,  the 
sluice,  the  tunnel,  the  siphon,  the  aqueduct.  The  in- 
genuity of  the  Moors  improved  methods  of  terrestrial 
culture,  for  centuries  regarded  as  perfect  by  many 


MooBisH  Empire  in  Eubofe  601 

highly  civilized  nations.  They  adopted  and  extended 
the  irrigating  system  of  Egypt.  They  appropriated 
the  Persian  wheel,  which,  with  the  rows  of  jars  on 
its  periphery  arid  propelled  by  cattle,  served  as  a 
pump;  or,  driven  by  the  rapid  current  of  streams,  dis- 
tributed the  waters  of  the  latter  through  lands  of 
higher  level.  Some  of  these  wheels  were  very  large, 
not  infrequently  attaining  a  diameter  of  seventy  feet; 
one  at  Toledo  was  ninety  cubits  high.  Their  number 
was  immense;  within  an  area  of  a  few  square  leagues 
five  hundred  might  often  be  coimted.  Fields  were 
surveyed  and  grades  ascertained  by  means  of  the  as- 
trolabe.. The  public  works  constructed  .for  irrigating 
purposes  were  on  a  gigantic  scale.  The  artificial  basin 
near  Alicante,  elliptical  in  shape,  is  three  miles  ip  cir- 
cumference and  fifty  feet  deep;  the  dam  at  Elche  is 
two  hundred  and  sixty-four  feet  long,  fifty-two  feet 
high,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide  at  the  bottom ; 
that  over  the  Segura,  near  Murda,  is  seven  himdred 
and  sixty  feet  long  and  thirty-six  feet  in  height.  The 
aqueduct  at  Manesis,  in  Valencia,  is  seven  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  long,  and  is  supported  by  twenty-eight 
arches.  The  principle  of  the  siphon,  familiar  to  the 
Arabs  eight  hundred  years  before  it  was  known  in 
France,  was  utilized  to  a  remarkable  degree  in  the 
Moorish  hydraulic  system.  The  length  of  the  curve 
in  the  great  siphon  at  Almanzora  is  five  himdred  and 
seven  feet;  the  diameter  of  the  latter  is  six  feet,  and 
it  passes  ninety  feet  under  the  bed  of  a  mountain 
stream.  The  subterranean  aqueduct  at  Maravilla, 
which  waters  the  plain  of  Urgel,  is  a  mile  long  and 
thirty  feet  in  diameter;  that  of  Crevillente,  north  of 
Orihuela,  is  fifty-five  hundred  and  sixty-five  feet  long 
and  thirty-six  feet  in  diameter.  All  of  these  under- 
ground conduits  are  cut  through  the  solid  rock.  The 
masonry  of  the  reservoirs  is  of  the  finest  description, 
and  the  cement  made  use  of  has  become  harder  than 


602  HiSTOEY  (XF  THE 

stone  itself.  Contingencies  are  provided  for  with  such 
skill  and  foresight  that  no  overflow  occurs,  and  no 
damage  ever  results,  even  in  time  of  the  greatest  in- 
undations. The  excellence  of  construction  which  char- 
acterizes these  massive  works  of  Arah  engineering 
genius  is  demonstrated  hy  the  fact  that  they  have 
needed  practically  no  repairs  in  a  thousand  years. 

As  was  necessary  under  the  conditions  which  pre- 
vailed in  a  region  where  water  was  so  valuable,  the 
greatest  care  was  exercised  in  its  apportionment  and 
distribution.  The  irrigating  system  of  the  khalifate 
was  governed  by  a  peculiar  code  of  laws,  perfect 
familiarity  with  whose  provisions  was  only  to  be  ob- 
tained by  a  life-long  experience.  The  strictest  econ- 
omy yras  enforced.  All  waste  was  forbidden.  The 
water  conducted  from  one  canal  to  another  was  used 
again  and  again.  The  sluices  were  opened  at  certain 
times,  the  quantity  furnished  being  accurately  gradu- 
ated according  to  the  requirements  of  the  cultivator. 
Theft  was  punished  with  exemplary  severity.  In 
some  provinces  those  whose  crops  for  the  time  did  not 
need  irrigation  might  dispose  of  their  diurnal  supply 
to  their  neighbors;  in  others  this  privilege  was  not 
conceded.  No  one  could  be  served  out  of  his  turn. 
The  complexity  of  the  system  may  be  inferred  from 
the  variety  of  distributing  outlets  dependent  upon  the 
extent  and  character  of  the  soil  to  be  watered.  There 
were  two  hundred  and  twenty-four  of  these,  all  dif- 
ferent, and  each  designated  by  a  separate  name. 
Under  the  especial  care  of  the  imperial  authorities,  a 
vigilant  police  patrolled  the  canals  and  guarded  the 
reservoirs  of  every  district  All  disputes  and  viola- 
tions of  law  were  passed  upon  by  a  court — ^whose 
judges  were  chosen  by  the  farmers  themselves— called 
The  Tribunal  of  the  Waters,  which  sat  on  Thursdajrs 
at  the  door  of  the  principal  mosque.  The  place  where 
its  sessions  were  held  imparted  to  it  a  semi-religious 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  608 

diaracter.  To  it  the  complicated  and  expensive  or- 
ganization of  modem  judicature  was  unknown,  and, 
secure  in  the  good  sense  and  integrity  of  its  magis- 
trates, it  was  equally  free  from  royal  interference, 
political  interest,  judicial  corruption,  absurd  techni- 
calities, and  legal  chicanery.  Its  proceedings  were  not 
embarrassed  by  vexatious  delays.  No  official  was  re- 
quired to  preserve  order.  No  record  was  kept  of  its 
deliberations.  No  costs  were  incurred.  *  No  advocate 
was  present  to  perplex  by  subtle  arguments  and  frivo- 
lous distinctions  the  plain  interpretation  of  the  law. 
Each  party  stated  his  own  case.  The  accused  con- 
ducted his  own  defence.  Judgment  was  rendered 
after  a  brief  consultation,  and  from  it  there  was  no 
appeal.  The  most  exalted  rank,  the  greatest  wealth, 
the  most  distinguished  public  service,  did  not  confer 
exemption  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  or  affect 
the  impartiality  of  its  decrees.  The  noble  was  simi- 
moned  to  its  bar  with  but  little  more  ceremony  than 
the  slave.  Infractions  of  the  various  ordinances  which 
protected  the  canals  and  their  supply  were  punished 
by  fines.  Where  the  offence  was  repeated,  the  culprit 
was  deprived  of  the  right  to  enjoy  Ite  privileges  upon 
which  the  existence  of  his  crop  depended. 

The  wisdom  of  these  regulations  is  demonstrated 
by  their  longevity.  Preserved  by  tradition,  they  have 
descended  to  our  times  almost  unchanged,  and  The 
Tribunal  of  the  Waters  still  sits  every  Thursday,  the 
last  day  of  the  Mussulman  week,  at  the  door  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Valencia,  as  it  did  before  the  portals  of 
the  Great  Mosque  under  the  rule  of  the  famous  Om- 
meyade  monardis  ten  centuries  ago. 

In  the  distribution  of  water  the  measurement  was 
by  volume,  a  certain  quantity  being  allotted  to  a  stated 
area  during  a  given  period  of  the  day  or  night  at  in- 
tervals of  ten  to  fifteen  days.  The  sides  of  5ie  canals 
were  provided  with  flood-gates,  kept  under  lock  and 


901  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

key,  by  which  the  adjoining  fields  could  be  submerged 
at  the  proper  time.  Drains  carried  the  surplus  back 
into  the  original  channels,  so  that  there  was  the  least 
possible  loss. 

The  same  care  and  economy  were  observed  in  fertil- 
izing the  soil,  which  the  requirements  of  a  dense  popu- 
lation never  permitted  to  rest.  Unlike  the  poliqr 
adopted  under  the  Roman  and  Gothic  dominations, 
there  were  few  large  estates.  The  land  was  divided 
into  small  tracts,  and  for  that  reason  was  much  more 
thoroughly  tiUed.  Manure  and  dust  were  collected 
from  the  highways.  The  contents  of  sewers  and 
vaults  were  preserved,  desiccated,  and,  mingled  with 
less  powerful  substances,  were  used  to  supply  the 
impairment  consequent  upon  incessant  cultivation. 
Ashes,  the  burned  and  pulverized  seeds  of  fruits,  the 
blood  and  bones  of  slaughtered  animals,  all  played  an 
important  part  in  the  intelligent  and  systematic  treat- 
ment of  the  rich  and  productive  valleys  of  the  South, 
whose  surface,  resting  on  an  impenetrable  subsoil  of 
day,  required  continual  renovation.  The  curious  and 
minute  investigations  of  the  skilled  agriculturist  had 
determined  the  best  composts,  the  most  advantageous 
modes  of  applying  them,  the  kind  of  vegetation  to 
which  they  were  specially  adapted. 

Manures  were  deposited  in  stone  reservoirs  con- 
trived to  prevent  evaporation  or  leakage.  Nothing 
was  wasted;  every  substance  available  for  the  fertili- 
zation of  crops  was  carefully  preserved,  the  different 
varieties  being  separated  and  applied  to  such  soils  as 
experience  had  taught  were  most  productive  under 
their  use.  No  natural  obstacle  was  suffidentiy  for- 
midable to  check  the  enterprise  and  industry  of  the 
Moorish  cultivator.  He  tunnelled  through  moun- 
tains. His  aqueducts  traversed  deep  ravines.  He 
levelled  with  infinite  patience  and  labor  the  rocky 
slopes  of  the  sierra.    Where  the  vast  public  works  of 


MooBisH  Empibe  in  Eubope  605 

Roman  genius  could  be  utilized,  they  were  repaired 
and  extended.  The  vegetable  products  of  the  re- 
motest countries  of  the  globe — ^the  grains  of  Asia,  the 
nuts  and  berries  of  Europe,  the  luscious  fruits  of  the 
African  coast — ^were  transported  to  Andalusia. 

Profound  botanical  knowledge,  which  went  hand  in 
hand  with  Arab  horticulture,  wonderfully  promoted 
these  researches.  The  Spanish  Moslems  were  per- 
fectly familiar  with  the  circulation  of  the  sap,  with  the 
difference  of  sex  in  plants,  with  the  process  of  arti- 
ficial f  ecimdation.  They  invested  them  with  the  con- 
ditions of  activity  and  repose,  of  motion  and  sleep. 
They  employed  eight  distinct  methods  of  grafting; 
and  the  injurious  effects  of  the  sun  were  obviated  by 
the  use  of  a  perforated  vessel,  from  which  the  water 
fell  drop  by  drop  upon  the  graft,  which,  without  this 
precaution,  would  have  been  withered  by  the  heat 
The  Moorish  gardeners  devised  numerous  expedients 
for  the  improvement  of  their  products,  not  a  few  of 
which  modem  ignorance  has  assigned  to  a  more  recent 
date.  An  example  of  these  was  the  removal  from  the 
tree  of  a  portion  of  the  fruit  before  maturity  to  insure 
the  superior  size  and  excellence  of  that  which  re- 
mained. They  cultivated  such  dye-stuffs  as  madder 
and  indigo,  products  of  India.  They  introduced  on 
a  diminished  scale  the  hanging  gardens  of  Babylon. 
In  floral  ornamentation  they  had  no  superiors.  They 
contrived  labjnrinths,  artificial  grottoes,  concealed 
fountains.  They  traced  texts  and  inscriptions  by 
means  of  gorgeous  blossoms  on  a  ground  of  living 
emerald.  The  intricate  designs  of  tapestry  were  imi- 
tated by  an  infinite  variety  of  flowering  plants,  whose 
tints  blended  in  perfect  harmony,  like  the  colors  of 
the  material  they  were  intended  to  represent.  They 
acquired  such  dexterity  in  the  culture  of  roses  that,  at 
all  seasons  of  the  year,  they  bloomed  in  profusion  in 
every  garden.     Like  our  modem  florists,  they  to- 


606  HlSTOST  OF  THE 

deavored  to  produce  them  of  unusual  tints,  and  met 
with  corresponding  failures.  They  understood  how  to 
extract  opium  from  the  poppy,  but  the  process  they 
employed  has  not  come  down  to  us.  They  treated 
with  success  the  diseases  of  all  the  known  species 
of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  They  were  exceedingly 
skilful  in  the  distillation  and  refining  of  essences, 
and  great  plantations  of  flowers  were  cultivated  for 
the  sake  of  the  exquisite  perfumes  they  afforded. 
Twenty-five  differ^it  kinds  of  these  are  mentioned, 
and  they  were  so  abimdant  and  cheap  that  they  were 
scarcely  accounted  a  luxury.  In  all  the  multifarious 
duties  of  his  occupation  the  Moorish  horticulturist  pos- 
sessed expert  knowledge.  He  could  preserve  fruits 
for  an  indefinite  period;  banish  noxious  insects;  expel 
poisonous  gases  from  wells  and  excavations.  He  was 
versed  in  meteorology,  and  could  foresee  atmospheric 
changes  with  an  accuracy  incomprehensible  to  those 
whose  daily  pursuits  did  not  require  familiarity  with 
the  varying  aspects  of  the  seasons  and  the  annual 
recurrence  of  natural  phenomena.  In  the  principal 
cities  of  the  Peninsula  were  schoob  where  practical 
instruction  in  the  various  departments  of  husbandry 
was  given. 

As  the  Koran  explicitly  forbade  the  exportation  of 
grain,  the  surplus  of  the  harvests  was  deposited  in  sub- 
terranean granaries  hewn  in  the  rock.  When  a  child 
attained  his  majority,  one  of  these  magazines  was  pre- 
sented to  him,  and  such  was  the  drjmess  of  the  recep- 
tacles that  wheat  in  perfect  preservation  was  found 
in  some  of  them  near  Granada,  where  it  had  lain  two 
centuries  after  the  capture  of  that  city.  The  wisdom 
of  this  arrangement  was  apparent  during  the  famines 
which,  despite  the  industry  of  the  people,  occasionally 
afflicted  the  Peninsula.  Reliance  was  sometimes  placed 
upon  less  palatable  food,  however,  and  near  Fedrocfae, 
from  time  immemorial,  forests  of  giant  oaks  were 


MooKisH  Empire  in  Europe  607 

carefully  preserved  for  the  sake  of  their  acorns,  which 
furnish^  a  coarse  but  nutritious  diet  when  aU  other 
resources  failed. 

The  great  work  of  Ibn-al-Awam,  of  Seville,  a  vast 
monument  of  industry  and  erudition  embracing  every 
conceivable  branch  of  the  subject,  shows  to  what  ex- 
traordinary perfection  the  science  of  agriculture  had 
been  carried  in  the  twelfth  century  by  the  Spanish 
Mohammedans.  It  treats,  in  a  comprehensive  and  ex- 
haustive manner,  not  only  of  the  methods  found  by 
tibe  experience  of  centuries  to  be  the  best  adapted  to 
the  sowing  and  harvesting  of  grain,  to  the  planting 
and  cultivation  of  orchards,  to  the  propagation  of 
edible  and  aromatic  plants;  but  it  also,  with  infinite 
minuteness  of  detail,  describes  the  breeding  and  care 
of  every  species  of  domestic  animals,  their  qualities, 
their  relative  excellence,  their  defects,  their  habits, 
their  diseases.  It  discourses  at  length  upon  the  dif- 
ferent breeds  of  horses  and  upon  the  rearing  of  that 
useful  animal  so  prized  by  the  Arab.  It  explains  the 
details  of  artificial  incubation,  a  process  borrowed 
from  Egypt.  It  directs  how  to  produce  in  geese  the 
abnormal  hepatic  conditions  which  induce  the  foie 
gras,  that  artificial  delicacy  so  dear  to  the  epicure,  and 
a  thousand  years  ago,  as  to-day,  an  invaluable  adjimct 
to  fashionable  gluttony.  It  teaches  difif^erent  methods 
of  cooking  and  the  preparation  of  various  confections, 
jellies,  syrups,  and  sweetmeats  of  every  description. 
The  manufacture  of  wine,  so  rigidly  forbidden  to 
the  Moslem,  and  whose  immense  consumption  had 
already,  in  tiie  time  of  the  khalif  ate,  scandalized  llie 
pious,  is  detailed  in  all  its  stages  in  this  remarkable 
book.  In  it  are  given  recipes  for  cordials  of  many 
kinds,  cooling  beverages,  and  hydromel.  It  also 
prescribes  the  rules  by  which  the  household  of  the 
farmer  should  be  governed,  and  defines  the  reciprocal 
duties  of  employer  and  employee.    In  every  operation 


608  HI8T0BY  OF  THE 

of  rural  life  and  domestic  economy,  it  enforces  by  re- 
peated admonition  the  necessity  for  cleanliness,  sys^ 
tem,  and  order. 

From  the  treatise  of  Ibn-al-Awam  we  learn  that 
much  of  his  information  was  derived  from  Sicilian 
sources,  where  agriculture  and  its  dependent  occupa- 
tions were  fully  as  advanced  as  in  the  Peninsula.  In 
that  rich  island,  saffron  and  numerous  other  herbs  were 
indigenous,  and  thence  with  many  vegetables  and 
fruits  were  carried  into  Spain.  The  vineyards  and 
the  wines  of  Sicily,  famous  in  antiquity,  maintained 
their  reputation  during  the  Moslem  and  Norman 
dominations,  but,  during  the  contest  of  the  [Empire 
with  the  Papacy,  the  culture  of  the  grape  declined  and 
was  practically  extinct  for  more  than  a  century. 

To  Moorish  enterprise  Europe  owes  such  fruits  as 
the  strawberry,  tiie  lemon,  the  quince,  the  date,  the  fig, 
the  mulberry,  the  banana,  the  pomegranate;  such  nuts 
as  the  pistachio  and  the  almond;  such  cereals  as  rice, 
sesame,  buckwheat;  such  vegetables  as  spinach  and 
asparagus;  such  spices  as  mace,  nutmeg,  and  pepper; 
such  condiments  as  the  caper  and  saffron.  The  coffee 
and  the  cotton  plant,  which  grew  wild  in  Arabia;  the 
sugar-cane,  whose  product  bears,  almost  unaltered, 
the  name  bestowed  by  those  who  were  the  first  to 
extract  it,  were  also  introduced  by  the  Arabs.  The 
olive  plantations  in  the  vicinity  of  Seville  alone,  con- 
taining millions  of  trees,  indicate  the  estimation  in 
which  its  culture  was  held,  and  the  enormous  profits 
it  must  have  yielded  the  owners.  Grapes  were  so  abun- 
dant at  Ubeda  that  there  was  no  market  for  them;  at 
Malaga,  Ibn-Batutah  says,  eight  pounds  sold  for  a 
dirhem.  Al-Makkari  refers  to  the  prodigious  size  of 
the  melons  of  Cintra.  The  pears  grown  at  Daroca, 
unequalled  in  richness  of  flavor,  weighed  three  pounds. 
The  apples  of  Santarem  were  thirty  inches  in  circum- 
ference.    Oranges  were  of  not  inferior  dimensions; 


Moorish  Emphie  in  Eubope  609 

and  to-day  in  Southeastern  Spain  it  is  not  unusual  to 
see  them  eight  inches  in  diameter.  It  is  impossible 
at  the  present  time  to  realize  the  extent  and  thorough- 
ness of  the  culture  of  the  soil  which  obtained  under 
the  Moslem  domination  in  the  Peninsula.  The  south- 
em  portion,  in  its  exuberant  fertility  now  the  admira- 
tion of  the  traveller,  was  under  the  Moors  infinitely 
more  productive.  La  Mancha,  the  Castiles,  and  Estre- 
madura,  which  ofi^er  at  present  an  unhappy  picture  of 
sterility  and  want,  were  as  late  as  the  twelfth  century 
covered  with  luxuriant  harvests,  interspersed  witii 
groves  and  orchards,  amidst  which  nestled  countless 
villages,  farm-houses,  towers,  and  hamlets. 

These  scenes  of  rural  thrift  and  beauty  were  tra- 
versed by  thousands  of  canals  and  conduits  diffusing 
on  every  side  their  refreshing  and  fertilizing  waters. 
The  gardens  were  enclosed  by  trellises  made  of  reeds 
woven  together  and  covered  with  trailing  roses  and 
climbing  vines,  the  mingled  odors  of  whose  blossoms 
filled  the  air.  Salamanca,  now  the  centre  of  one  of 
the  most  poverty-stricken  and  deserted  districts  in 
Spain,  was  in  the  tenth  century  a  populous  and  flour- 
ishing provincial  capital  \fith  a  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  towns,  many  of  them  of  considerable  magnitude, 
subject  to  its  jurisdiction.  Segovia,  whose  present 
condition  is  even  more  deplorable,  was  during  the 
khalif ate  the  centre  of  the  woollen  manufacture  of  the 
country,  a  source  of  great  wealth  to  all  who  embarked 
in  it.  Horticulture  in  Aragon,  where  every  product 
of  the  vegetable  world  not  prohibited  by  the  asperity 
of  the  climate  grew  in  profuse  abundance,  reached  its 
climax  in  the  exquisite  scenery  of  the  valley  of  the 
Ebro,  called  the  River  of  Fruits,  from  the  intermin- 
able orchards  that  lined  its  banks.  The  entire  kingdom 
was  formerly  dotted  with  forests,  and  in  its  deserts 
are  to  be  discerned  the  day-beds  of  many  a  lake  and 
water-course,  whose  moisture  once  brought  prosperity 

Vol.  III.-S9 


610  History  of  the 

to  a  numerous  Moorish  population.  The  cajntaU 
Saragossa,  long  the  seat  of  an  enlightened  dynasty, 
was  celebrated  far  and  near  for  the  accomplisdiments 
of  its  princes,  the  learning  of  its  scholars,  the  skill  of 
its  artisans,  the  wealth  of  its  Jews,  and  the  superb 
decorations  of  its  mosques.  No  city  of  the  khalif  ate 
possessed  a  better  class  of  inhabitants,  greater  wealth, 
or  a  higher  degree  of  civilization.  Its  walls  were 
nearly  two  leagues  in  circuit.  Its  gardens  extended 
for  a  distance  of  eight  miles  in  every  direction.  Its 
atmosphere  was  perfumed  by  the  flowers  which  cov- 
ered its  plain.  A  territory  of  great  extent  containing 
many  villages  and  castles  acknowledged  the  authority 
of  the  Beni-Hud,  its.  rulers.  The  entire  region  was  a 
paradise,  which  foreigners  compared  to  Chaldea  on 
account  of  its  fertility,  its  numerous  groves,  and  its 
profusion  of  waters.  In  its  climate  wood  did  not  de- 
cay or  grain  mildew,  and  provisions  might  be  kept  for 
years  without  deterioration.  The  royal  palace,  called 
the  Abode  of  Pleasures,  contained  a  magnificent  hall 
of  state,  whose  marbles  and  arabesques  were  one  of 
the  wonders  of  the  Peninsula.  Abulf eda  refers  to  the 
Moorish  capital  of  Aragon  as,  "'  the  Silver  City  sur- 
rounded by  emeralds  mingled  with  gold."  The  pres- 
ent dreary  aspect  of  Toledo  offers  no  suggestion  of 
its  former  grandeur  under  Arab  rule  when  its  popu- 
lation numbered  two  hundred  thousand,  and  from  the 
towers  of  its  citadel  a  succession  of  farms  and  planta- 
tions could  be  discerned  stretching  away  to  the  verge 
of  the  horizon.  It  was  in  the  tropical  South,  however, 
that  the  inexhaustible  resoiux!es  of  the  Moorish  agri- 
culturist rioted  in  the  exhibition  of  their  amazing 
power.  The  Mediterranean  coast  from  Gibraltar  to 
Barcelona  was  an  unbroken  belt  of  verdure.  For  fif- 
teen miles  below  Seville  the  Guadalquivir  was  shaded 
by  a  succession  of  orchards.  Near  that  dty  the  district 
of  the  Axaraf e — ^which  embraced  fifty  square  leagues 


Moorish  Empibe  m  Eusofe  611 

and  was  thickly  planted  with  olive-  and  fig-trees — ^in 
the  twelfth  century  contained  a  thousand  thriving 
villages,  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  after  the 
dismemberment  of  the  Ommeyade  empire.  Here 
flourished  in  close  proximity  representatives  of  the 
vegetable  kingdom  collected  from  the  most  widely 
separated  portions  of  the  globe.  Here  were  to  be  seen 
hundreds  of  varieties  of  plants,  some  gathered  on  the 
slopes  of  the  Himalayas,  others  collected  in  the  forests 
of  Germany;  others  again  transplanted  with  infinite 
labor  from  Ethiopia  and  the  sources  of  the  Nile- 
Here  were  propagated  the  orange  and  the  pomegran- 
ate of  Syria;  the  palm  of  Egypt;  the  tamarind  of 
Barbary;  ihe  fragrant  balsam  of  Arabia.  Vast 
groves  of  mulberries  indicated  the  importance  attached 
to  the  manufacture  of  silk. 

In  the  manifold  avocations  either  connected  with  or 
dependent  upon  the  pursuit  of  agriculture, — ^in  the 
rearing  of  cattle  and  horses,  in  the  breeding  of  sheep, 
in  the  culture  of  bees, — ^the  Moor  of  the  Peninsula 
attained  to  the  highest  degree  of  proficiency.  The 
Arabian  horse  lost  none  of  his  incomparable  qualities 
in  the  climate  of  Andalusia,  and  to  his  swiftness  and 
endurance  are  to  be  attributed  many  of  the  most  sig- 
nal victories  which  attended  the  progress  of  the  Mos- 
lem arms.  The  silky  and  abimdant  fleece  of  the 
merino  sheep  owes  its  fineness  as  well  as  its  name  to 
the  peculiar  method  by  which  flocks  were  tended  and 
propagated  under  the  laws  of  the  Western  Khalif  ate. 
Immense  munbers  were  conducted  twice  each  year  be- 
tween the  Pyrenean  slopes  and  the  plains  of  Estre- 
madura,  by  this  means  securing  fresh  and  continual 
pasturage,  and  equally  avoiding  the  droughts  of  sum- 
mer and  the  storms  of  winter.  The  organization  which 
controlled  these  migrations,  protected  by  the  authority 
of  the  government,  eventually  acquired  the  impor- 
tance and  the  power  of  a  political  institution.    It  was 


612  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

designated  the  Mesta,  and,  adopted  by  the  CastQians, 
its  privileges,  become  oppressive  through  abuses  long 
practised  with  impunity,  were,  until  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  when  they  were  largely  curtailed,  one 
of  the  most  intolerable  grievances  endured  by  the 
Spanish  peasantry. 

The  richness  of  the  Peninsula  in  valuable  minerals 
not  only  facilitated  the  development  of  the  arts,  but 
aided  materially  in  the  establishment  of  oomimeree 
with  foreign  nations.  The  silver  mines  of  Iberia  were 
famous  from  all  antiquity,  and  after  centuries  of  neg- 
lect under  barbarian  misrule  tiieir  treasures  were  again 
made  available  under  the  energetic  administration  of 
the  Khalifs  of  Cordova.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Li- 
nares are  still  to  be  traced  the  square  pits  of  the  Arab, 
side  by  side  with  the  circular  excavations  of  the  Ro- 
man ;  and  their  number,  exceeding  five  hundred  in  this 
single  locality,  indicates  the  magnitude  of  mining 
operations,  a  pursuit  whose  intelligent  prosecution  and 
economical  management  contribute  so  much  to  the 
material  wealth  of  a  community.  From  the  sands  of 
the  Darro  and  the  Tagus  were  extracted  considerable 
quantities  of  gold.  In  Spain,  the  centre  of  the  largest 
deposits  of  cinnabar  in  the  ancient  world,  the  pro- 
duction of  quicksilver  was  one  of  the  most  profitable 
employments  of  Moorish  industry.  At  Abal,  a  day's 
journey  from  the  capital,  were  mines  where  a  thou- 
sand workmen  were  constantly  employed.  The  supe- 
rior quality  of  the  copper  utensils,  the  unrivalled  tem- 
per of  the  steel  blades,  for  which  Andalusia  especially 
was  renowned,  attest  not  only  the  excellence  of  the 
respective  ores  from  which  those  metals  were  obtained, 
but  the  skill  required  for  the  fabrication  of  the  latter 
into  objects  of  utility  and  beauty  in  the  workshops 
and  armories  of  Almeria,  Seville,  Granada,  and  To- 
ledo. 

For  leagues  before  approaching  the  great  Andalu- 


Moorish  Emphub  in  Eubope  618 

sian  cities  the  traveller  traversed  by  highways  covered 
with  arching  foliage  districts  so  iliickly  settled  as  to 
resemble  a  succession  of  contiguous  hamlets.  The 
air  was  sweet  with  the  fragrance  of  flowers ;  the  mur- 
mur of  waters  was  everywhere;  along  each  stream 
was  a  row  of  picturesque  mills;  on  one  side  rose  the 
towers  and  cupolas  of  some  palace  rich  with  gilding 
and  sparkling  tiles;  on  the  Other  a  line  of  cottages 
embowered  in  jasmine  and  roses.  Nothing  impressed 
him  more  forcibly  than  the  thrift  which  seemed  to 
universally  prevail.  Every  foot  of  land  susceptible 
of  cultivation  was  carefuUy  tilled.  Every  drop  of 
water  was  used.  Great  crowds  filled  the  narrow 
streets.  No  beggars  plied  their  annoying  trade  on 
the  thoroughfares  or  infested  the  portals  of  the 
mosques.  The  teeming  population  of  the  country  was 
the  best  indication  of  the  general  prosperity.  In  the 
year  910,  there  were  more  people  in  any  one  of  the 
Hispano-Arab  provinces  bordering  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean than  there  were  in  all  Great  Britain  at  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Every  indulgence  and  encouragement  was  afi^orded 
by  the  laws  to  the  Moorish  cultivator.  The  indepen- 
dence so  necessary  to  the  successful  prosecution  of  agri- 
cultiu*al  pursuits,  he  enjoyed  to  the  utmost  degree 
compatible  with  the  maintenance  of  social  order.  For 
the  most  part,  he  himself  instituted  the  regulations 
of  husbandry,  which  were  enforced  by  magistrates 
taken  from  his  class  and  of  his  own  selection.  His 
taxes  were  not  oppressive.  The  productiveness  of  the 
soil,  the  equability  of  the  climate,  never  permitted  his 
labors  to  go  unrewarded.  In  Valencia,  where  each 
week  yielded  a  new  crop  to  the  farmer,  rest  of  the 
land,  essential  to  the  preservation  of  fertility  else- 
where, was  unknown.  In  Murcia,  the  wonderful  vege- 
tation had  given  to  the  coimtry  a  name  suggested  by 
its  resemblance  to  the  luxuriant  Valley  of  the  Nile. 


614  HiSTOEY  OF  THE 

The  annual  yield  of  oil  by  the  Axarafe  at  Seville 
was  two  million  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  thou- 
sand five  hundred  gallons;  every  day  during  the  olive 
harvest  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  gallons 
were  brought  into  the  city.  All  Africa,  Asia,  and 
Europe  were  supplied  with  this  useful  article  of  food 
by  the  plantations  of  Southern  Spain.  It  was  not 
without  reason  that  the  olive-tree — ^the  source  of  such 
wealth,  the  emblem  of  peace — should  have  been  re- 
garded as  blessed  by  both  the  Moslem  and  the  Jew. 
Roses  were  so  abundant  at  Cordova  that  twenty-five 
pounds  of  the  leaves  only  brought  two  dirhems,  and 
every  one  was  at  liberty  to  pluck  all  the  flowers  he 
desired  from  the  hedges  that  bordered  the  highways 
or  in  private  grounds,  a  privilege  which  was  never 
abused.  In  localities  unfavorable  to  cultivation  tibe 
deficiencies  of  the  soil  were  supplied  by  imtiring  indus- 
try. Walls  of  ponderous  masonry  supported  terraces 
where  the  very  cliffs  were  made  productive,  and  where 
only  a  bush  or  a  vine  could.be  planted  the  narrow 
space  was  utilized.  Not  only  water,  but  loam  and 
fertilizing  materials  were  brought  from  great  dis- 
tances. 

The  dimensions,  the  splendor,  the  opulence,  of  the 
principal  cities  amazed  the  foreigner  accustomed  to 
the  crowded  quarters  and  squalid  wretchedness  of  the 
European  capitals.  All  were  surrounded  by  suburbs, 
themselves  of  vast  extent,  stretching  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  reach.  The  mountain  slopes  of  Almeria  and 
Malaga  were  covered  with  vineyards;  in  the  plains 
were  thousands  of  acres  of  sugar-cane ;  in  the  marshes, 
rice  plantations.  The  gardens  of  Almeria  extended 
for  a  radius  of  twenty  miles  north,  east,  and  west 
from  the  harbor.  The  supreme  importance  of  the 
agricultural  interest  as  affecting  the  general  welfare 
of  a  commtmity  was  never  more  conclusively  demon- 
strated than  by  the  disastrous  results  consequent  upon 


MooBisH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  615 

the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  and  the  Moriscoes:  These 
results  have  already  been  alluded  to  in  these  pages. 
The  destructive  policy  which  blotted  out  a  great  civili- 
zation brought  with  it  its  own  punishment.  Extensive 
regions,  which  under  the  Moslems  produced  immense 
revenues,  are  at  the  present  day  barren  and  uninhab- 
ited. The  sole  traces  of  former  prosperity  in  districts 
now  relinquished  to  the  bandit  and  the  smuggler  are 
disclosed  by  moimds  designating  the  sites  of  former 
villages.  Where  were  once  endless  plantations  of 
valuable  trees  are  now  dreary  wastes  destitute  of  all 
vegetation,  incapable  of  supporting  animal  life,  cursed 
with  eternal  drought  and  hopeless  sterility.  The  cities 
have  lost  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  their  inhabi- 
tants; the  villages  have  dwindled  to  hamlets;  the 
ancient  hamlets  have  disappeared.  In  the  Peninsula, 
under  the  Arabs,  there  were  no  uncultivated  tracts 
except  those  covered  by  the  forests;  in  the  middle 
of  the  last  century  in  Estremadura — ^not  including 
the  moimtain  regions  which  embraced  one-third  of  the 
area  of  the  province — ^there  were  two  hundred  thou- 
sand acres  abandoned;  in  La  Mancha  forty-five  thou- 
sand; in  the  district  of  Utrera  thirty-one  thousand. 
The  only  localities  wher«  agriculture  still  flourishes 
are  those  where  Nature  has  distributed  her  choicest 
favors;  where  the  necessity  for  arduous  labor  does 
not  tax  the  capacity  of  native  indolence;  where  the 
products  of  the  earth  grow  in  spontaneous  profu- 
aon ;  where  the  systems  of  irrigation  and  tillage  intro- 
duced by  the  Moors  still  prevail  without  substantial 
alteration,  disclosing  their  unrivalled  adaptability  to 
the  pmposes  of  rural  industry. 

The  great  productiveness  of  the  soil  and  the  prox- 
imity of  the  Mediterranean  naturally  suggested  the 
development  of  natural  resources  and  the  extension 
of  commerce  in  Moorish  Spain.  With  the  ancient 
Arab,  the  predatory  instinct  alone  took  precedence  of 


616  History  of  the 

the  mercantile  propensity.  That  propensity  received 
a  tremendous  impidse  from  the  f omidation  of  Islam. 
Encouraged  by  the  precepts  and  example  of  the 
Prophet,  who,  as  the  factor  of  Khadijah,  had  visited 
the  cities  of  Syria,  the  calling  of  the  merchant  soon 
came  to  be  regarded  by  every  Moslem  as  a  profession 
of  honor  as  well  as  of  profit.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
Desert  were,  for  the  most  part,  divided  into  two 
classes, — ^those  who  organized  caravans  and  those  who 
plundered  them.  Centuries  before  the  Hegira,  a 
lucrative  trade  was  carried  on  between  the  districts 
of  Mecca  and  Yemen  and  the  rich  cities  of  India, 
Assyria,  and  Egypt.  Little  effort  therefore  was 
required  for  the  establishment  of  profitable  commer- 
cial intercourse  between  the  seaports  of  the  Spanish 
Peninsula  and  those  which  at  frequent  intervals  dotted 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  Ahnost  coincident 
with  the  Conquest  an  extensive  trade  was  inaugurated. 
The  control  of  the  sea  by  the  navy  of  the  khalifs 
extended  immeasiu*ably  the  facilities  of  mercantile 
intercommunication.  The  great  markets  of  Christen- 
dom maintained  the  closest  relations  with  the  opulent 
houses  of  Almeria  and  Malaga;  the  wares  of  Con- 
stantinople, Venice,  and  Genoa  found  ready  pur- 
chasers in  the  bazaars  of  Cordova  as  well  as  in  those 
of  the  provincial  capitals  of  Andalusia  and  Al-Magh- 
reb.  But  the  dauntless  spirit  of  the  Moorish  Moslem 
was  not  limited  to  maritime  trade;  his  factors  were 
to  be  found  in  every  country  accessible  to  the  influ- 
ences and  the  enterprise  of  civilization;  his  caravans 
traversed  with  equal  rapidity  and  perseverance  the 
forests  of  Europe,  the  deserts  of  Ethiopia,  the  illimit- 
able plains  of  Central  Asia,  the  marshes  and  jungles 
of  Hindustan.  The  mysterious  perils  of  unexplored 
seas,  the  fierce  aspect  and  savage  manners  of  wild  and 
barbarous  tribes,  the  formidable  obstacles  presented 
by  trackless  wastes  and  pestilential  swamps,  were  all 


MoosiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  617 

forgotten  in  the  thirst  for  gain  and  the  excitement  of 
adventure.  The  memory  of  the  expeditions  periodi- 
cally despatched  hy  their  ancestors  from  the  cities  of 
Arabia,  the  sight  of  the  enormous  profits  accumulated 
by  the  Jews,  at  once  their  instructors,  their  allies,  and 
their  competitors,  stimulated  the  ambition  of  the 
Spanish  Arabs,  already  predisposed  to  mercantile 
occupations,  and  whose  extraordinary  energy  seemed 
to  promise  success  in  every  undertaking.  Mussulman 
legislation,  so  eminently  favorable  to  the  requirements 
of  internal  and  foreign  commerce,  offered  aid  to  the 
followers  of  the  Prophet  in  a  more  effective  manner 
than  had  ever  been  suggested  by  the  founders  of  other 
religions.  The  duties  imposed  by  the  pilgrimage  to 
Mecca  and  Medina  were  intimately  connected  with 
the  conditions  of  traffic.  Long  before  Mohammed, 
the  altar  and  the  bazaar  had  been  placed  in  a  position 
of  mutual  dependence  by  the  sagacious  and  thrifty 
traders  of  Yemen.  The  idolatrous  shrine  of  Mecca 
looked  for  its  support  to  the  pilgrims  who,  allured 
partly  by  superstition,  partly  by  avarice,  at  regular 
interv3,ls  swarmed  within  the  waUs  of  the  Holy  City. 
The  Koran  enjoins  under  all  circumstances  the  strict 
observance  of  contracts  and  the  practice  of  honesty, 
and  menaces  with  the  justice  of  heaven  such  as  vio- 
late the  principles  of  equitable  dealing  in  business 
transactions.  In  addition  to  the  general  principles  of 
Mohammedan  law  which  promoted  the  intercoiu^e  of 
nations,  the  Ommeyade  khalifs  of  Spain  exempted 
from  taxation  many  products  of  manufacture  and 
objects  of  luxury, — among  them  weapons,  armor,  and 
jewelry, — aware  that  the  increased  wealth  which  must 
result  from  this  privilege  would  enure  to  the  benefit 
of  the  people  far  more  in  the  end  than  the  transitory 
advantage  resulting  from  the  imposition  of  taxes  or 
duties. 

The  sea,  as  well  as  the  land,  was  made  tributary 


618  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

to  the  enterprise  of  the  Saracens.  Amber  was  tfaioiim 
up  in  considerable  quantities  around  Lisbon.  The 
pearl  fishery  was  an  important  occupation  of  the 
natives  of  Valencia  and  Alicante.  In  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Almeria  quantities  of  exquisite  onyx  and 
agates  were  found.  Rock  salt  was  abundant^ — ^a 
great  hill  of  it  stood  near  Saragossa.  The  mountains 
of  Alhama  were  composed  of  gypsum,  which  afforded 
the  finest  quality  of  plaster.  Deposits  of  lapis-lazuli 
existed  at  Lorca.  At  Macael  were  inexhaustible  beds 
of  white  marble  that  rivalled  in  lustre  and  beauty  the 
product  of  the  Grecian  quarries  of  Fentelicus.  The 
moimtains  of  Andalusia  abounded  with  jasper.  Car- 
thagena  yielded  amethysts.  Rubies  were  mined  near 
Malaga. 

Inland  traffic  was  assisted  by  means  of  f  airs» — ^those 
popular  mercantile  expedients  whidi  foster  trade  and 
at  the  same  time  develop  the  social  instincts  of 
humanity, — ^institutions  especially  acceptable  to  semi- 
barbarous  nations  and  long  familiar  to  the  people  of 
Arabia.  Ease  of  commimication,  the  most  potent  of 
civilizing  influences,  promoted  this  national  inter- 
change of  both  commodities  and  ideas.  The  dispo- 
sition of  merchandise,  profitable  as  it  was,  while  the 
ostensible  motive,  was  by  no  means  the  most  impor- 
tant object  of  these  popular  assemblies.  Familiar- 
ity with  distant  communities,  the  conversation  of 
strangers,  the  varying  panorama  of  novel  and  inter- 
esting scenes,  the  excitement  and  bustle  attendant 
upon  the  congregation  of  vast  multitudes,  are  won- 
derful stimulants  to  the  intellectual  faculties.  The 
literary  contests  for  poetical  supremacy  which  were 
said  to  have  formed  a  Active  future  of  the  mighty 
concourse  of  Okhad  were  revived  in  the  fairs  of  Anda- 
lusia. While  the  latter  were  designed  for  provincial 
benefit,  they,  in  fact,  partook  largely  of  a  cosmo- 
politan character.    Their  fame  attracted  commercial 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  619 

speculators  from  the  most  distant  countries.  Articles 
of  great  rarity  and  value  were  exposed  for  sale  in 
their  booths.  The  transactions  concluded  within  their 
limits  were  not  inferior  in  importance  to  those  which 
had  created  the  commercial  prosperity  of  Malaga  and 
Almeria.  The  circimistances  incident  to  their  insti- 
tution and  siuTOimdings  offered  representations  of 
tropical  life  strange  to  the  eyes  of  Christendom.  The 
encUess  lines  of  plodding  camels,  loaded  with  precious 
stuffs;  the  splendidly  caparisoned  horses;  the  sump- 
tuous litters  enclosing  the  beauties  of  the  harem; 
the  sullen  and  ferocious  eunuchs;  the  retinues  of  the 
nobles  glittering  with  steel  and  gold;  the  swarming 
crowds  in  the  white  robes  of  the  Oriental ;  the  end^ant- 
ing  landscape,  with  its  groves  of  palm,  orange,  and 
pomegranate,  its  rippling  waters,  its  fragrant  exotics; 
the  narrow  streets  covered  with  awnings  to  exclude  the 
sun;  the  gay  pavilions;  the  strange  costumes  of  luxu- 
rious Asia  and  barbaric  Africa;  the  mingled  accents 
of  a  score  of  idioms,  manifested  on  highway,  thor- 
oughfare, and  plain  the  foreign  influence  which, 
apparently  established  forever,  had  obliterated  the 
Roman  and  Gothic  traditions  of  the  Peninsula.  No 
such  spectacle  could  be  elsewhere  exhibited  unless  in 
countries  where  Eastern  customs  had  held  sway  from 
time  immemorial.  The  effect  of  these  periodical 
assemblies  upoii  the  commercial,  literary,  and  social 
Uf  e  of  Mohanmiedan  Spain  was  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance. 

Great  as  was  its  internal  traffic,  it  was  necessarily 
to  its  foreign  mercantile  connections  that  the  Moorish 
empire  looked  for  its  most  profitable  returns.  Its  geo- 
graphical position  was  unusually  favorable  for  the 
prosecution  of  maritime  enterprise.  The  Mediterra- 
nean gave  its  traders  ready  access  to  all  the  most 
civilized  countries  of  the  world.  But  a  few  hours'  sail 
separated  them  from  the  ports  of  Northern  Africa, 


620  HiSTOBT  OF  THE 

where  were  amassed  the  rich  commodities  of  that  vast 
continent.  The  Bay  of  Biscay  afforded  a  passage  for 
their  vessels  to  the  harbors  of  France  and  Britain. 
According  to  Edrisi,  they  explored  Madeira,  the 
Canaries,  and  the  Azores  four  hmidred  years  before 
those  islands  were  occupied  by  Europeans.  Through 
the  passes  of  the  Pyrenees  they  could  reach  the  mar- 
kets of  Northern  Europe.  Thus  brought  in  contact 
with  remote  nations  which  had  no  other  means  of 
communication,  the  European  Moors  enjoyed  pecu- 
liar commercial  advantages  which  they  were  not  slow 
to  improve.  The  carrying  trade  of  the  Peninsula  was 
largely  in  the  hands  of  the  Jews.  The  latter  had 
been  a  lucrative  source  of  revenue  to  the  Gk)ths,  as 
they  were  subsequently  to  the  persecuting  Spaniards. 
They  were  the  bankers,  the  importers,  the  carriers  of 
the  empire.  They  imparted  a  large  share  of  Uieir 
energy  and  enterprise  to  the  Moslems,  already  envious 
of  their  success  and  their  opulence.  In  the  ninth  cen- 
tury an  extraordinary  impetus  was  communicated  to 
the  intercourse  with  llie  Orient;  in  the  tenth  the  mer- 
chants of  Spain  and  Sicily  practically  engrossed  the 
conmierce  of  the  Mediterranean.  Every  provision 
was  made  for  both  security  and  profit.  Armed  gal- 
leys patrolled  the  coasts  and  convoyed  the  fleets  of 
merchantmen  as  they  traversed  the  seas.  The  inland 
mercantile  transactions  of  the  Spanish  Moslems  were 
probably  not  inferior  in  importance  to  their  maritime 
ventures.  The  discovery  of  innumerable  coins  and 
pieces  of  jewelry  on  the  coast  of  Scandinavia  and 
along  the  rivers  of  Germany  and  Poland  indicates, 
more  certainly  than  any  historical  record  could  do,  the 
former  presence  of  the  adventurous  traders  of  the 
Peninsula.  The  khalif  s  had  consular  agents  in  India, 
China,  and  Persia.  They  sent  magnificent  gifts  to 
Oriental  potentates.  They  negotiated  treaties  with 
the  barbarian  princes  of  Central  Africa.    Tribal  hos- 


MooBisH  Empire  in  Eurofe  621 

tility  was  forgotten  in  the  mutual  advantages  arising 
from  traffic  with  the  Mussuhnan  cities  of  Egypt, 
Syria,  and  Arabia,  and  with  the  settlements  of  the 
Indian  archipelago.  Policy  as  well  as  interest  con- 
firmed the  friendship  early  established  between  the 
Moslem  sovereigns  of  Spain  and  the  Greek  emperors 
of  Constantinople.  They  exchanged  presents,  de- 
spatched special  embassies,  received  the  representa- 
tives of  imperial  dignity  and  hostile  faith  with  every 
demonstration  of  honor  and  respect.  The  exclusive 
commercial  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  merchants  of 
the  two  empires  gave  them  a  vast  superiority  over  all 
competitors.  Colonies  of  foreign  Christians  who 
occupied  quarters  by  themselves  and  were  governed 
by  their  own  laws  were  established  in  all  the  seaports 
and  in  many  of  the  inland  cities.  The  number  of  these 
in  Granada  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest  was  twenty- 
five  thousand,  the  majority  of  whom  were  Italians. 
The  traders  of  the  Bosphorus  were  frequently  seen 
at  the  fairs  of  Castile;  the  great  houses  of  Almeria 
and  Barcelona  maintained  agencies  in  the  Byzantine 
capital  which  controlled  the  rich  commerce  of  the 
Euxine  and  the  Baltic. 

In  the  great  markets  of  the  East  and  West  the 
choicest  articles  of  luxury  passed  through  the  hands 
of  the  shrewd  and  enterprising  dealers  of  Moham- 
medan Spain.  From  the  borders  of  the  Arctic  Circle 
came  the  precious  furs  of  the  Ijmx,  the  fox,  and  the 
ermine,  the  least  valuable  of  which  was  worth  a  hun- 
dred dinars;  from  Norway  and  Siberia  stores  of  fos- 
sil ivory;  from  Arabia  balsams  and  aromatics;  from 
Germany  honey  and  wax;  from  the  countries  of  the 
Baltic  mastic,  storax,  and  amber;  from  China  tea 
and  porcelain;  from  Ethiopia  gold-dust  and  asbestos; 
from  Persia  perfumes;  from  India  spices  and  sandal- 
wood; from  Sweden  and  Finland  female  slaves  with 
faultless  complexions  and  flaxen  tresses,  whose  ordi- 


622  HnrroBY  of  the 

nary  price  in  the  bazaars  of  Cairo  and  Cordova  was 
a  thousand  pieces  of  gold.  The  Jews  and  the  monks 
of  France,  adepts  in  an  execrable  occupation,  pro- 
vided the  harems  with  white  eunuchs.  Timbuctoo  and 
the  districts  of  the  Niger  contributed  blacks  of  gigan- 
tic proportions  and  ferocious  aspect,  to  be  enrolled  in 
the  body-guard  of  the  khalif  s.  The  hawks,  so  gener- 
ally used  in  the  sport  of  the  Middle  Ages,  were  for 
the  most  part  bred  or  furnished  by  the  Moslem  mer- 
chants. They  also  imported  from  Africa  wild  ani- 
mals, such  m  lions,  giraffes,  and  leopards,  for  zoologi- 
cal collections  and  for  sale  in  distant  countries.  A 
lion  in  the  markets  of  China  was  valued  at  thiirty  thou- 
sand rolls  of  silk.  The  camel,  easily  domesticated  in 
Andalusia,  always  conmianded  a  high  price  as  a  beast 
of  burden.  The  principal  emporiums  of  mediaeval 
conmierce  and  international  exchange,  where  were 
collected  the  most  valuable  products  of  a  hundred 
kingdoms,  all  of  which  paid  tribute  to  Moorish  enter- 
prise and  wealth,  were  Constantinople,  Alexandria, 
Mdaga,  and  Palermo. 

The  great  centres  of  manufacturing  and  mercan- 
tile activity  were  situated  on  the  Mediterranean.  Of 
these,  Almeria  was  the  most  important.  From  the 
extreme  East,  from  the  Nubian  deserts,  from  the 
coast  of  Guinea,  from  distant  Britain,  from  the 
frozen  regions  of  the  North,  traders  crowded  her 
streets  and  markets.  In  her  harbor  were  to  be  encoim- 
tered  the  ships  of  every  maritime  nation.  Her  eight 
himdred  silk  factories,  emplojring  more  than  ei^t 
thousand  looms,  sent  forth  gold  and  silver  tissues, 
carpets,  curtains,  robes, — ^whose  delicate  texture  and 
exquisite  designs  excelled  the  finest  products  of  Uie 
Orient  The  iron  and  copper  utensils  made  by  her 
artisans  enjoyed  an  extensive  reputation  for  dura- 
bility and  finish.  The  influx  of  strangers  who  con- 
tributed to  her  wealth  and  shared  her  hospitality  may 


Moorish  Empire  in  Exjbofe  628 

be  conjectured  from  the  fact  that  nine  hundred  and 
seventy  caravansaries  within  her  walls  were  registered 
to  pay  the  excise  on  wine. 

At  Malaga,  another  great  scHiport,  were  situated 
the  largest  potteries  in  Andalusia,  where  was  manu- 
factured the  porcelain  whose  surface  of  enamelled 
gold,  silver,  and  copper  was  due  to  a  process  known 
only  to  the  Arabs  of  Spain.  The  clay  found  in  the 
vicinity  was  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  purposes  of 
the  potter,  and  had  centuries  before  assumed  the  sym- 
metrical forms  of  classic  elegance  under  liie  dexterous 
hands  of  the  Roman.  The  efforts  of  antiquity  had, 
however,  been  surpassed  by  the  Moors,  who  in  time 
brought  this  industry  to  a  perfection  heretofore  un- 
known. In  other  towns,  such  as  Valencia,  Murda, 
Murviedro,  and  Calatayud,  it  was  also  pursued  with 
great  success.  The  resources  of  modem  ingenuity 
have  been  taxed  in  vain  to  discover  the  secret  whidi 
could  give  to  a  porcelain  vase  the  peculiar  finish  which, 
while  preserving  unchanged  the  colors  of  the  metals, 
increased  far  more  than  any  burnishing  could  effect 
the  lustre  of  its  brilliant  surface.  In  no  city  in  the 
world,  excepting  those  of  China,  was  the  fabrication 
of  porcelain  pursued  with  such  skill  and  profit  as  at 
Malaga.  Its  exportation  was  one  of  the  most  lucra- 
tive sources  of  wealth  enjoyed  by  the  kingdom  of 
.Granada.  With  the  people,  this  industrial  pursuit 
was  not  merely  a  vulgar  trade  carried  on  for  mer- 
cenary motives,  but  an  occupation  which  permitted 
and  encouraged  the  development  of  the  highest  sci- 
entific and  artistic  instincts  of  humanity.  The  vases 
of  graceful  form  and  exquisite  decoration  which 
came  from  the  Malagan  potteries  were  eagerly 
sought  after  by  the  opulent  and  luxurious  of  every 
land.  The  perfection  of  this  branch  of  the  ceramic 
art  with  the  secret  of  the  metallic  enamel  disap- 
peared with  the  final  conquest  of  the  dty.     Tlds 


624  HnrroBY  of  the 

fact  is  not  in  itself  remarkable,  for  the  advent  of 
the  Spanish  domination  was  signalized  by  the  de- 
struction of  many  forms  of  useful  industry;  but  it 
is  absolutely  imprecifedented  that  a  manufacture  of 
such  magnitude,  whose  extent  and  perfection  were 
established  by  so  many  indisputable  proofs,  should 
not  have  left  intact  to  posterity  a  single  specimen  of 
its  excellence.  There  is  not  positively  known  to  be  a 
genuine  piece  of  the  famous  metallic  pottery  of  Mal- 
aga in  existence.  Some  fragments  have  been  found 
in  that  city,  whose  glassy  surface  displayed  the  bril- 
liant lustre  which  excited  the  wonder  of  contempo- 
raneous nations ;  but  no  European  museum  or  private 
collection,  it  is  almost  certain,  now  possesses  an  article 
which  exhibits  this  marked  peculiarity,  or  whose  origin, 
with  any  degree  of  probability,  can  be  assigned  to  the 
greatest  centre  of  the  ceramic  art  in  the  mediaeval 
world. 

Not  for  the  fabrication  of  silks  and  pottery  alone 
was  Malaga  famous.  Her  glass  and  paper,  her  uten- 
sils of  iron  and  copper,  the  complex  and  elegant  labors 
of  her  cabinet-makers  and  joiners,  also  enjoyed  a 
wide  and  deserved  celebrity. 

The  use  of  metals  as  a  means  of  ornamentation  was 
also  frequently  applied  to  leather.  This  was  for  the 
most  part  made  at  Cordova,  whose  products  were  con- 
ceded to  be  of  superior  quality,  and  commanded  the 
highest  price  in  every  market.  Some  of  the  tanning 
vats,  huge  vessels  of  terra-cotta,  in  which  this  material 
was  prepared,  are  still  to  be  seen  in  Spain.  The 
leathern  hangings  produced  in  the  capital  were  justly 
ranked  among  the  most  important  of  its  numerous 
manufactures.  By  some  ingenious  process  the  skins 
were  rendered  as  soft  and  pliable  as  the  iSnest  doth, 
and  were  then  decorated  in  accordance  with  the  canons 
of  Arabic  taste,  which,  without  offending  the  eye  with 
glaring  contrasts,  could  blend  in  harmony  the  ridiest 


Moorish  Empire  in  Europe  625 

tints  and  the  sheen  of  the  brightest  metals.  The  gold 
and  silver  were  applied  with  stamps;  the  colors  were 
laid  on  with  the  brush;  and  the  gorgeous  designs  pro- 
duced an  almost  magical  effect  when  viewed  amidst 
the  varied  magnificence  of  a  Moorish  palace.  This 
art,  like  that  of  the  metallic  glaze  of  porcelain,  also 
appears  to  be  irretrievably  lost.  The  torn  and  faded 
fragments  of  ornamented  leather  which  have  de- 
scended to  us  prove  not  only  the  durability  and  excel- 
lence of  the  material,  but  indicate  a  skill  beside  which 
the  efforts  of  the  most  accomplished  modem  book- 
binders seem  clumsy  in  comparison.  It  was  often 
impressed  with  colored  figures  in  relief,  which  added 
greatly  to  its  beauty,  imparting  to  it  the  appearance 
of  brocade.  The  finer  grades  were  perfumed  with 
amber.  The  artisans  of  Cordova  also  excelled  in  the 
carving  and  engraving  of  vessels  of  silver  an4  gold. 

The  manufacture  of  silk  at  Seville  gave  employ- 
ment to  a  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  weavers,  a 
number  of  whom  were  employed  in  the  fabrication 
of  the  stuff  called  tiraz,  whose  use  was  a  royal  pre- 
rogative. Xativa  was  long  the  seat  of  the  first  paper 
factory  in  Europe, — ^that  substance  whose  invention 
has  contributed  so  greatly  to  the  dissemination  of 
knowledge  and  the  progress  of  civilization.  For  ages 
known  to  the  Chinese,  the  Arabs  substituted  linen, 
and  finally  cotton,  for  the  silk  which  had  been  em- 
ployed in  the  Celestial  empire.  Its  introduction  by 
the  Spanish  Moors  into  Europe  is  indisputable,  a 
manuscript  of  cotton  paper  dating  from  the  eleventh 
century  having  been  discovered  in  the  library  of  the 
Escorial.  Although  used  at  Mecca  in  710,  it  was  prac- 
tically unknown  in  Europe  until  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  was  not  manufactured  in  London  before  1690. 
The  extraordinary  impulse  imparted  to  letters  by  the 
khalif  s,  the  coimtless  volumes  contained  in  the  impe- 
rial libraries,  the  transcriptions  of  rare  manuscripts, 

Vol.  III.— 40 


626  EElSTOBY  OP  THE 

and  the  constant  publication  of  new  works  for  whose 
composition,  if  possessed  of  merit,  incredible  pre- 
miums were  paid,  must  have  caused  an  immense  con- 
sumption of  paper.  A  profession  held  in  such  honor, 
and  whose  productions'  were  rewarded  with  such 
munificence,  naturally  attracted  to  its  ranks  the  noble 
and  the  learned  of  every  Moslem  nation;  and  espe- 
cially was  this  the  case  in  the  Peninsula,  where  the 
highest  literary  advantages  were  enjoyed  even  by 
families  of  humble  rank;  and  where  education  among 
all  classes  was  not  only  a  religious  duty,  but  a  stigma 
attached  to  its  neglect.  In  consequence  of  this,  liter- 
ary pursuits  became  not  only  a  fashion  but  a  pleasure; 
a  correct  taste  was  formed;  popular  emulation  was 
aroused;  the  manufacture  of  books  was  multiplied; 
and  the  palaces  of  the  rich,  irrespective  of  their  na- 
tionality, were  filled  with  collections  which  would  have 
provoked  the  astonishment  of  a  learned  "  clerk"  of 
France  or  Britain,  whose  superiority  over  his  parish- 
ioners consisted  in  his  ability  to  write  an  illegible 
scrawl  and  to  intone  the  service — ^whose  meaning  he 
often  did  not  comprehend,  and  the  application  of 
whose  teachings  was  a  matter  of  conjecture — ^in  a 
barbarous  jargon  of  monkish  Latin.  Care  for  the 
preservation,  and  facilities  for  the  purdiase,  of  these 
literary  treasures  kept  pace  with  their  original  pro- 
duction. Binding  in  leather  was  perfectly  understood, 
and  the  elaborately  decorated  cases  in  which  the  vol- 
umes were  often  enclosed  were  deposited  upon  shelves 
of  aromatic  and  precious  woods,  such  as  cedar,  aloe, 
ebony,  and  sandal. 

The  change  from  the  roll  of  the  ancients  to  the 
square  form  of  books  now  used  dates  from  the  middle 
of  the  fifth  century.  The  art  had  abeady  reached  a 
high  degree  of  perfection  before  the  establishment  of 
Islamism.  Its  best  efi^orts  were  originally,  as  might 
be  conjectured,  confined  to  works  on  sacred  subjects. 


MooEisH  Emfibe  in  Eubofe  627 

Bindings  enriched  with  ivory,  gems,  cameos,  medal- 
lions, and  clasps  of  fhe  precious  metals  were  adorned 
with  the  utmost  skill  of  the  goldsmith  and  the  lapi- 
dary. The  Arabs,  and  especially  those  of  Spain, — 
the  seat  of  the  greatest  culture  of  the  race, — excelled 
in  this  art,  as  in  all  others  to  which  they  diligently 
applied  their  talents  and  their  industry.  The  supe- 
riority of  their  materials,  the  beauty  of  their  designs, 
the  brilliancy  of  their  colors,  and  the  profusion  of 
their  ornamentation  were  proverbial.  The  value  of 
their  covers  caused  the  disappearance  and  mutilation 
of  great  numbers  of  works,  now  either  entirely  lost  or 
existing  only  in  a  fragmentary  condition.  At  the  sack 
of  Cordova,  the  Berbers  used  the  leather  of  priceless 
volumes  for  sandals.  The  Castilian  invader  stripped 
others  of  their  gold  and  jewels  and  contemptuously 
cast  the  manuscripts  away.  The  magnificence  of 
those  sacrificed  to  the  malignant  energy  of  Ximenes 
in  the  destruction  of  Moslem  learning  at  Granada  only 
intensified  the  prejudice  existing  against  Arabic  liter- 
ature in  the  mind  of  every  ignorant  and  infuriated 
bigot  of  the  time. 

The  trade  in  books  held  a  high  rank  in  the  com- 
mercial world;  its  profits  corresponded  with  its  mer- 
cantile importance;  and  in  the  time  of  Al-Hakem  II. 
the  booksellers  in  Cordova  alone  nimibered  more  than 
twenty  thousand. 

The  various  kinds  of  textile  fabrics  manufactured 
by  the  Spanish  Arabs  embraced  every  species  of  stuffs 
and  every  style  of  pattern.  In  addition  to  silk,  the 
fine  merino  Wools  of  Lusitania  and  the  cotton  and 
flax  for  which  Andalusia  was  long  famous  furnished 
to  the  weaver  supplies  of  raw  material  unsurpassed  in 
strength  and  delicacy  of  fibre.  Silk  introduced  into 
Spain  by  the  Moors  had  for  centuries  been  known  to 
the  inhabitants  of  Yemen,  who  had  become  familiar 
with  it  through  their  trade  with  China.    Its  use  was 


628  HiSTOEY  OP  THE 

forbidden  to  men  by  Mohammed,  in  whose  time  it 
was  a  mark  of  effeminacy;  but  this  prohibition  was 
constantly  and  systematically  evaded  by  the  artifice 
of  mingling  a  few  threads  of  wool  or  cotton  in  the 
web  of  the  fabric.  Essentially  an  article  of  luxury, 
the  amount  consumed  in  the  Peninsula  indicated  the 
prosperous  condition  of  a  society  which  could  afford 
to  purchase  in  such  quantities  a  material  that  in  many 
countries  commanded  extravagant  prices.  As  an 
article  of  export  none  was  more  in  demand  or  more 
profitable.  The  broad  and  discerning  government  of 
the  khalifs,  which,  in  accordance  with  the  true  prin- 
ciples of  political  economy,  promoted  every  important 
branch  of  commerce,  regarded  its  culture  and  manu- 
facture with  peculiar  favor.  It  was  by  an  especial 
provision  of  the  law  exempted  from  taxation.  They 
encouraged  by  boimties  the  planting  of  mulberry- 
trees.  In  addition  to  the  incredible  numbers  of  these 
to  be  encountered  in  the  valleys  of  Granada,  Valencia, 
and  Almeria,  the  city  of  Jaen,  whose  climate  and 
situation  were  remarkably  propitious  to  the  rearing  of 
silk-worms,  was  the  centre  of  three  thousand  hamlets 
devoted  to  this  lucrative  industry.  While  in  Spain 
silk  was  a  common  material  for  the  apparel  of  the 
rich,  elsewhere  in  Europe  it  was  one  of  tiie  rarest  of 
commodities  and  a  commercial  curiosity.  It  formed 
part  of  the  most  precious  booty  of  tiie  Crusaders. 
Relics  were  enclosed  in  its  folds  as  the  most  costly 
of  fabrics.  It  was  spread  upon  the  altars  of  noble 
cathedrals.  Monarchs  were  delighted  with  the  pos- 
session of  a  small  piece  of  a  stuff  which  for  genera- 
tions had  filled  the  shops  and  furnished  the  wardrobes 
of  wealthy  citizens  of  Granada,  Cordova,  and  Seville. 
By  the  cultivation  of  a  single  branch  of  manufac- 
tures in  a  particular  locality,  the  subjects  of  the  khalif  , 
profiting  by  experience,  by  the  transmission  of  heredi- 
tary talent  to  successive  generations,  by  the  improve- 


Moorish  Empikb  in  Eusofe  629 

ment  in  mechanical  processes  which  from  time  to  time 
spontaneously  suggested  themselves,  attained  in  many 
departments  of  industry  to  an  aknost  imprecedented 
degree  of  dexterity.  Water-power  was  used  to  drive 
machinery  in  all  the  Andalusian  manufacturing  cen- 
tres; in  the  time  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  looms 
were  still  operated  by  means  of  it  at  Cordova.  Nearly 
every  city  was  noted  for  a  specialty  in  whose  fabri- 
cation it  excelled.  The  armorers  of  Seville  were 
famous  for  their  coats  of  mail  and  armor  inlaid  and 
embossed  with  gold.  The  swords  of  Toledo  were  con- 
sidered imapproachable  for  the  elegance  of  their 
chasing,  the  keenness  of  their  edge,  and  the  fineness 
of  their  temper.  At  Almeria  were  made  articles  of 
gilded  and  decorated  glass,  the  method  of  whose 
manufacture,  carried  by  the  Moors  to  Italy,  is  now 
possessed  in  its  perfection  by  the  Venetians  alone. 
The  superiority  of  the  woollens  of  Cuenca  and  the 
cottons  of  Beja  was  undisputed.  Bocayrente  pro- 
duced a  Unen  fabric  of  gossamer  lightness,  which 
resembled  the  meshes  of  a  spider's  web  in  strength 
and  in  delicacy.  The  carpets  of  Miwcia  had  no  equals 
except  in  Persia.  The  silken  gauzes  and  sumptuous 
caparisons  of  Granada  were  sent  as  presents  to  kings. 
In  its  Alcaiceria,  or  Silk  Market,  were  two  hundred 
shops  for  the  exclusive  sale  of  that  staple.  It  is  said 
that  in  this  beautiful  city  edifices  built  for  the  trans- 
action of  business  resembled  palaces  in  their  splendor. 
Its  tapestries  and  brocades  were  wonderful  specimens 
of  the  weaver's  skill,  and  their  designs  were  subse- 
quently used  as  models  by  the  artisans  of  Italy  and 
France.  There  also  were  made  exquisite  enamels  and 
vases  of  rock-crystal.  The  ]\^oorish  jewellers  of 
Granada  were  the  most  celebrated  in  Europe. 
Among  the  specimens  of  their  handiwork  is  mentioned 
a  necklace  containing  four  hundred  pearls,  each  worth 
a  hundred  and  fifty  dinars.    Alicante  enjoyed  a  mo- 


680  HlffEOBY  OF  THE 

nopoly  in  its  mats  and  baskets  of  esparto,  that  tough 
African  grass,  whose  employment  dates  from  the 
occupation  of  Iberia  by  the  Carthaginians,  and  whose 
manifold  uses  are  so  admirably  adapted  to  the  re- 
quirements of  a  tropical  climate.  The  mills  of  Sara- 
gossa  and  Murcia,  built  upon  boats  moored  over  the 
rapid  currents  of  the  Ebro  and  the  Guadalaviar, 
were  renowned  for  the  excellent  character  of  their 
flour.  The  drug-market  of  Liorca  was  universally 
resorted  to  by  physicians,  aware  that  their  reputation 
depended  on  the  purity  of  the  medicines  they  adminis- 
tered and  relying  upon  the  official  supervision  of  the 
government  as  a  sufficient  guaranty  of  their  excel- 
lence. No  such  organized  and  co-operative  system  for 
the  production  of  commodities  and  fabrics  had  at  that 
time  been  adopted  by  any  other  nation  in  the  world. 
The  f  oimder's  art,  particidarly  exemplified  in  the  cast- 
ing of  ponderous  pieces  of  metal,  was  practised  with 
a  surprising  degree  of  skill.  Cordova  90]itained  at 
least  one  establishment  of  this  description,  where  were 
made  the  figures  for  the  decoration  of  the  fountains 
at  Medina-al-Zahra.  The  usual  difficulties  attending 
the  even  distribution  of  the  molten  metal  during  the 
operation  of  casting  seem  to  have  been  entirely  over- 
come in  the  examples  to  be  met  with  in  the  museums 
of  Europe,  and  tihe  results  appear  to  have  been  as 
complete  and  satisfactory  as  in  the  perfected  processes 
of  the  present  day. 

In  every  department  of  scientific  labor,  in  every 
practical  operation  of  life  demanding  a  high  degree 
of  mechanical  skill,  the  Spanish  Moor  exhibited  on 
all  occasions  a  precocious  and  remarkable  ingenuity. 
There  was  no  field  tqo  extensive,  no  detail  too  insig- 
nificant, to  be  investigated  by  his  enterprising  genius. 
The  marvellous  scope  of  his  powers  was  the  greatest 
factor  of  his  success.  Like  the  famous  English  phi- 
losopher, he  seemed  to  have  "'  taken  all  knowledge  to 


MooBisH  Empibe  in  Extbofe  681 

be  his'  province."  His  intellectual  faculties  grasped 
and  utilized  in  an  instant  conceptions  that  individuals 
of  other  nations  would  have,  and,  in  fact,  often  did, 
cast  aside  with  contempt.  The  pioneer  of  modem 
progress,  the  permanent  traces  he  has  left  upon  civili- 
zation, and  his  salutary  customs,  adopted  by  posterity 
in  defiance  of  popular  odium  and  traditional  preju- 
dice, are  unwilling  tributes  of  national  and  ecclesias- 
tical hostility  to  the  talents  and  greatness  of  an  accom- 
plished people  to  whom  history  is  indebted  for  the 
sole  bright  spot  on  the  dark  map  of  mediaeval  Europe. 
For  the  commodities  of  European  convenience  and 
Oriental  luxury  were  bartered  innumerable  products 
of  Moorish  agriculture,  mining  enterprise,  and  manu- 
facturing skill, — ^the  oils,  the  fruits,  the  sugar,  the 
rice,  the  cotton,  of  Andalusia  and  Valencia;  cochineal, 
which  aboimded  in  many  parts  of  the  Peninsula; 
the  antimony  and  quicksilver  of  Estremadura;  the 
rubies,  amelliysts,  and  pearls  of  Alicante  and  Car- 
thagena;  the  linens  of  Salamanca;  the  woollens  of 
Segovia;  the  silks  of  Granada;  the  damasks  of 
Almeria;  the  blades  and  armor  of  Seville  and  Toledo. 
The  product  of  the  paper-mills  of  Xativa,  famous 
throughout  the  East,  was  annually  exported  in  large 
quantities.  Malaga  disposed  of  the  most  of  its  exqui- 
site ceramic  manufactures  in  Syria  and  Constanti- 
nople. From  Cordova  came  the  enamelled  leather, 
long  famous  from  the  name  of  the  Ommeyade  capital. 
The  horses  of  the  Hispano-Arab  breed  were  trans- 
ported in  great  numbers  even  as  far  as  Persia.  In 
the  kingdom  of  Granada  a  hxmdred  thousand  were 
regularly  maintained  for  the  use  of  the  crown.  An- 
dalusia enjoyed  an  infamous  celebrity  as  the  principal 
market  for  eunuchs  in  the  world.  The  supply  came 
from  France,  Galicia,  and  Barbary,  through  the  me- 
diimi  of  Christian  and  Hebrew  dealers,  by  whose 
instrumentality,  also,  these  unfortunates  were  pre- 


682  History  of  the 

pared  for  the  humiliating  service  of  tiie  seraglio.  Vast 
multitudes  of  other  slaves,  the  produce  of  foray  and 
conquest,  were  also  disposed  of  from  time  to  time; 
a  single  expedition  of  Al-Mansur  conveyed  to  Cor- 
dova nine  thousand  Christian  captives.  Thus,  exclu- 
sive of  other  booty,  prisoners  of  vjrar  were  a  source  of 
constant  and  enormous  revenue  to  the  state. 

The  natural  resources  of  Sicily  and  its  fortunate 
position,  as  the  entrepot  of  the  Eastern  and  Western 
Mediterranean,  were  the  means  of  enriching  its  peo- 
ple beyond  that  of  any  territory  of  equal  area  known 
in  any  age.  The  harbors  of  Palermo  and  Syracuse 
were  constantly  crowded  with  shipping.  Sicilian  mer- 
chantmen were  to  be  encountered  in  every  European 
port;  they  brought  cargoes  of  slaves,  ivory,  and  gold- 
dust  from  the  coast  of  Guinea;  they  traversed  the 
canal  of  Suez, — ^reopened  by  the  Egyptian  khalif  s, — 
and,  braving  the  tempests  of  the  Red  Sea  and  ilie 
Indian  Ocean,  penetrated  to  the  Spice  Islands  of  the 
far  distant  East.  The  intimate  relations  of  the  Moor- 
ish princes  of  Sicily  with  the  khalif  s  of  Cordova  and 
the  Byzantine  emperors  placed  within  reach  of  their 
merchants  every  article  of  popular  research  and  com- 
mercial value.  In  exchange  for  these,  they  exported 
the  vegetable  and  mineral  productions  of  the  island, — 
cotton,  hemp,  grapes,  oranges,  sugar,  wine,  and  oil; 
copper,  lead,  iron,  and  mercury;  rock-salt,  sal-ammo- 
niac, and  vitriol;  cattle  and  horses;  and  the  sheU-fish 
from  which  was  extracted  the  Tyrian  purple.  The 
profits  of  this  extensive  commerce  were  naturally  pro- 
ductive of  enormous  wealth;  the  warehouses  of  the 
Sicilian  cities  were  crowded  with  valuable  merchandise 
of  every  conceivable  description;  the  houses  of  the 
Palermitan  merchants  rivalled  the  palaces  of  sover- 
eigns; and  the  people  in  effeminacy  and  voluptuous- 
ness, in  no  respect  surpassed  by  the  inhabitants  of  an- 


Moorish  Empib£  m  Eubofe  888 

dent  Sybaris,  were  proverbial  for  their  opulence,  their 
refinement,  their  extravagance,  and  their  luxury. 

It  will  appear  from  the  foregoing  observations  that 
the  energy  manifested  by  the  European  Moslems  in 
mercantile  pursuits  was  fully  equal  to  their  industrial 
and  literary  activity.  In  neither  the  ancient  nor  the 
mediffival  world  did  any  nation— excepting  the  Phoe- 
nicians— ^approach  the  Spanish  and  the  Sicilian  Arabs 
in  craft,  in  foresight,  in  enterprise,  in  accuracy  of 
judgment,  in  that  singleness  of  purpose  which  is  indis- 
pensable to  success.  Their  Midas  touch  turned  every- 
thing to  gold.  They  were  familiar  with  Oriental 
countries  at  a  period  when  the  very  existence  of  the 
latter  was  unknown  to  Europe  or  was  considered 
fabulous.  The  number  of  shops  for  the  sale  of 
merchandise  which  existed  in  the  great  cities  indi- 
cated the  immensity  of  the  trafiic  of  which  they  were 
the  centres;  of  these  Cordova  contained  more  than 
eighty  thousand.  The  rules  which  governed  the  trans- 
actions of  commercial  intercourse  in  the  markets  of 
the  Peninsula  were  so  simple,  convenient,  and  equita- 
ble that  they  were  subsequently  adopted  by  many 
other  nations.  The  learned  French  writer,  Sedillot, 
is  authority  for  the  statement  that  Europe  has  bor- 
rowed from  the  Arabs  some  of  its  most  important 
principles  of  finance  as  well  as  its  present  code  of 
maritime  law. 

To  the  Moslems  we  owe  the  adaptation  of  the  mag- 
netic needle  to  the  p\u*poses  of  navigation,  an  inven- 
tion long  erroneously  attributed  to  the  sailors  of 
Amalfi.  Its  peculiar  properties,  familiar  for  ages  to 
the  Chinese,  were  probably  commimicated  by  them  to 
the  Arabs.  OriginaUy  inserted  in  a  cork  and  per- 
mitted to  float  on  the  surface  of  water,,  the  Moors  were 
the  first  to  mount  it  on  a  pivot,  thereby  vastly  in- 
creasing its  utility  and  accuracy.  They  were  evidently 
acquainted  with  it  before  the  twelfth  century,  as  Arab 


684  History  of  thb 

writers  of  that  epoch  allude  without  comment  to  the 
compass  as  an  instrument  perfectly  familiar  to  the 
seamen  of  the  Mediterranean.  To  the  Mussulman 
the  magnet  possessed!  a  threefold  significance  and 
value.  It  guided  his  vessel  across  the  trackless  waters 
independently  of  the  appearance  of  the  stars.  It  indi- 
cated unerringly  the  course  of  the  caravan  in  the 
Desert,  constancy  menaced  by  the  perils  of  thirst  and 
of  the  simoom.  And  it  enabled  the  pious  worshipper, 
however  distant  from  the  Mosque  of  Mecca,  to  ascer- 
tain in  an  instant  the  point  to  which  he  should  direct 
his  face  during  the  hours  of  prayer. 

The  laborious  and  exhaustive  investigations  of 
Reinand,  Fav6,  Le  Bon,  and  Viardot  have  demon- 
strated beyond  dispute  that  the  Arabs  were  the  in- 
ventors of  gunpowder  and  artillery.  While  it  was 
admitted  that  these  destructive  agents  were  introduced 
into  Europe  by  the  Moors  of  Spain,  their  discovery 
was  long  universally  ascribed  to  the  Chinese.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  they  were  first  made  use  of  in  Sjrria 
and  Egypt,  probably  as  early  as  the  beginning- of  the 
thirteenth  century.  The  primitive  lombards  of  the 
Sultan  of  Egypt,  which  cast  great  balls  of  stone,  ter- 
rified the  army  of  St.  Louis  in  1249.  Artillery  was 
employed  by  the  Moors,  besieged  in  Niebla  by  Alfonso 
X.,  in  1257*  According  to  Ibn-Khaldun,  it  was  used 
by  Abu-Yusuf ,  Emir  of  Morocco,  at  the  siege  of 
Sidjilmesa,  in  1278.  Ibn-al-Khatib  says  that  cannon 
were  made  in  Granada  before  1800,  and  mentions 
Ibn-al-Hadj  as  famous  for  his  skill  in  their  manu- 
facture. After  that  time  they  are  frequently  men- 
tioned by  the  Spanish  historians  of  the  Reconquest. 
Their  first  appearance  in  the  wars  of  France  was  in 
1888.  The  Earls  of  Salisbury  and  Derby,  who  served 
in  the  army  of  Alfonso  XI.,  before  Algeziras,  in 
1842,  carried  the  knowledge  of  the  invention  to  Eng- 
land four  years  before  the  battle  of  Crecy,  an  epodi 


Mcx)si8H  Empire  in  Extbofe  885 

which  marks  its  general  adoption  in  Europe.  Con- 
sidering the  immense  military  superiority  which  we 
should  naturally  attribute  to  a  people  exclusively 
acquainted  with  the  formula  for  the  manufacture  of 
gunpowder  and  experienced  in  its  application  to  fire- 
arms, it  is  remarkable  that  this  enormous  power  was 
not  more  profitably  utilized  by  the  Spanish  Arabs, 
who  possessed  it  a  century  before  the  portentous  secret 
became  known  to  the  nations  of  Christendom. 

Among  the  Moslems,  the  operations  of  war  were 
rarely  carried  on  according  to  a  definite  plan.  Military 
service  was  not  merely  a  matter  of  patriotism  or  loy- 
alty, it  was  a  religious  duty  imposed  by  his  faith  upon 
every  Mussulman,  and  from  which  only  the  infirm 
and  the  aged  were  exempt.  As  of  old  in  the  Desert, 
each  dan  marched  under  its  hereditary  commander. 
In  important  campaigns  the  army  was  marshalled  in 
five  grand  divisions,  symbolical  of  the  five  cardinal 
precepts  of  Islam,  an  arrangement  by  which  the  valor 
of  the  warrior  was  strengthened  by  the  stimulus  of 
fanatical  zeal.  The  Koran  was  always  in  sight,  either 
borne  like  a  standard  on  the  point  of  a  lance  or  held 
in  the  hand  of  the  general,  as  he  directed  the  manoeu- 
vres of  the  field.  There  was  no  regular  attempt  at 
organization.  The  troops  depended  largely  on  the 
enemy  for  subsistence.  The  cavalry  were  generally 
clad  in  mail;  the  infantry  were,  as  a  rule,  little  better 
than  a  half -armed  rabble.  If  repulsed  at  the  first 
onset,  it  was  almost  impossible  to  rally  a  Moslem  army. 

Among  the  most  remarkable  institutions  of  the 
Arabs  of  Spain  was  the  Ribat,  or  station  on  the  fron- 
tier of  the  enemy,  which  formed  the  model  of  the 
orders  of  military  monks  of  the  Middle  Ages.  These 
establishments  were  strongly  fortified  castles,  garri- 
soned by  devout  soldiers,  who  expected  the  recompense 
promised  by  the  Koran  for  constant  service  against 
the  infidel.    The  leisure  time  of  their  occupants  was 


886  HlffTOBT  OF  THE 

spent  in  religious  exercises.  Many  pious  volunteers 
sought  glory  and  holiness  in  the  dangerous  life  whidi 
the  exposed  position  of  these  outposts  afforded.  The 
latter  guarded  the  passes  of  every  hostile  country; 
they  were  found  on  the  borders  of  Italy,  Languedoc» 
Castile,  Aragon,  Portugal.  Their  rules  of  discipline, 
their  vows,  and  their  penances  presented  a  striking 
analogy  to  those  of  the  orders  of  Santiago,  Alcan- 
tara, and  Calatrava,  whose  organization  they  evi- 
dently suggested.  Their  foundation  preceded  those 
of  the  Hospital  and  the  Temple  by  more  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years. 

The  coinage  of  the  Ommeyades  of  Spain  was  Uie 
purest,  the  most  artistic  in  design,  the  most  elegant 
in  execution,  which  had  to  that  time  been  known  in 
Europe.  It  was  composed  of  the  dinar,  of  gold,  equal 
to  two  dollars;  the  dirhem,  of  silver,  equal  to  twelve 
cents;  and  various  small  pieces  of  copper  of  fiiuctu- 
ating  value. 

The  balance,  whose  value  to  the  merchant  would 
not  be  fully  apparent  unless  he  were  deprived  of  it, 
is  also  an  invention  of  the  Arabs.  The  Moorish  unit 
of  linear  measure  was  represented  by  a  horsehair.  Six 
of  these  placed  together  were  equal  to  a  grain  of 
barley;  six  grains  of  barley  made  a  finger-breadth; 
fom*  fingers  a  palm;  six  palms  a  cubit  Of  modem 
weights  in  ordinary  use,  the  grain,  represented  by  a 
barley-corn,  and  the  carat,  adapted  from  the  seed  of 
the  pea,  have  descended  without  alteration  from  tiie 
Arabs  to  our  goldsmiths  and  jewellers. 

The  political,  religious,  and  domestic  institutions  of 
the  Arabs,  which  account  in  a  measure  for  the  amazing 
rapidity  of  their  progress  in  Europe  as  elsewhere, 
were  also  largely  responsible  for  the  downfall  of  their 
power.  Their  government,  derived  from  the  patri- 
archal organization  of  the  Desert  and  confirmed  by 
the  revered  precepts  of  Islam,  placed  absolutely  un- 


MooBiSH  Emfibe  in  Eueofe  687 

limited  authority  in  the  hands  of  the  sovereign.  The 
khalif ,  as  th^  word  implies,  was  the  Successor  of  the 
Prophet.  Fortune  was  long  eminently  propitious  to 
the  Ommeyade  dynasty  in  providing  it  with  a  line  of 
kings  even  more  distinguished  in  the  arts  of  peace 
than  in  the  arduous  and  uncertain  achievements  of 
conquest.  But  these  talents  for  administration  and 
war,  it  is  obvious,  could  not  be  indefinitely  transmitted. 
With  the  first  apearance  of  royal  incapacity,  the  scep- 
tre passed  into  the  hands  of  ambitious  statesmen,  ready 
to  sacrifice  the  claims  of  religion  and  hereditary  de- 
scent to  considerations  of  private  emolument  and  dis- 
tinction. The  epoch  included  in  the  reign  of  Hischem 
II.  is  the  most  glorious  in  Moslem  annals.  But  that 
renown  was  achieved  not  by  the  Khalif  in  person,  nor 
even  under  his  direction,  but  by  Al-Mansur,  his  Prime 
Minister,  who,  although  of  obscure  birth,  guided,  as 
did  the  Frankish  Mayors  of  the  Palace,  by  his  tran- 
scendent and  unaided  genius  the  destinies  of  the 
empire.  The  example  of  his  success  and  the  attempt 
to  bequeath  to  his  son  the  power  which  he  alone  was 
able  to  wield  were  fatal  to  the  Moslem  domination, 
and  contributed  with  other  causes  of  equal  gravity  to 
its  ultimate  overthrow. 

In  the  civil  and  military  organization  of  the  govern- 
ment the  patriarchal  traditions  of  the  Bedouin  were 
preserved,  under  circumstances  little  suggestive  of  his 
origin  and  highly  incongruous  and  inexpedient,  amidst 
the  results  of  an  advanced  civilization.  The  author- 
ity and  office  of  the  sheik  were  reproduced  imder 
other  names,  which,  even  to  the  ignorant  foreigner, 
did  not  serve  to  disguise  their  identity.  Founded 
equally  upon  the  legislation  of  the  Koran,  the  admin- 
istrations of  the  Sultans  of  Bagdad  and  the  Khalifs 
of  Cordova  differed  only  in  the  most  trifling  details. 
Under  both,  the  prince  was  daily  accessible  to  the  com- 
plaints, and  redressed  in  person  the  grievances  of  his 


688  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

subjects.  Under  both,  the  kadi,  whose  office  was  in- 
vested with  a  certain  degree  of  sanctity  as  well  as  of 
secular  power,  dispensed  justice  at  the  portals  of  the 
mosque.  His  position  was  rather  sacerdotal  than  ju- 
dicial. He  was  one  of  the  interpreters  of  the  Koran, 
the  original  source  of  all  Moslem  jurisprudence.  In 
his  appointment  the  greatest  care  was  exercised.  Only 
individuals  conspicuous  for  learning,  experience,  and 
integrity  were  considered  eligible  to  such  a  responsi- 
ble employment.  Even  the  Khalif  obeyed  his  sum- 
mons. The  Chief  Kadi,  who  had  supervision  over  all 
the  others,  was  the  most  powerftd  dignitary  of  the 
empire. 

The  Arabs  left  no  extensive  code  of  laws  like  that 
of  the  Visigoths,  wherein  the  rights  of  persons  and 
the  penalties  of  crimes  are  systematically  enumerated 
and  defined.  As  their  government  was  presumed  to 
be  theocratic,  its  principles  were  necessarily  unalter- 
able. Of  legislation,  in  the  modem  understanding  of 
the  term,  they  knew  nothing.  The  decrees  of  the  kha- 
lif s,  based  upon  the  construction  of  the  Koran  and 
the  traditionary  opinions  of  the  Prophet  embodied  in 
the  Sunnah,  formed  the  entire  body  of  legal  principles 
and  precedents  available  for  the  instruction  and 
guidance  of  magistrates. 

Among  the  other  officials  of  the  administration 
were  the  Hajib,  or  Prime  Minister;  the  Viziers,  who 
composed  the  Divan  or  Council;  and  the  Katibs,  or 
Secretaries.  All  of  them  were  mere  advisers  of  the 
sovereign,  and  their  authority  was,  except  imder 
extraordinary  circumstances,  only  nominal. 

The  most  important  subordinate  office  was  that  of 
the  Mohtesib,  or  Supervisor  of  Markets,  who  held 
court  at  the  gate  of  the  mosque.  His  emissaries  paid 
frequent  visits  to  all  provision  merchants  and  drug- 
gists, prevented  the  use  of  false  weights  and  meas- 
ures, the  sale  of  damaged  food  and  adulterated  medi- 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eueofe  689 

dnes,  the  overcharging  and  cheating  of  purchasers. 
Their  4uties  also  extended  to  the  protection  of  beasts 
of  burden  from  the  inhumanity  of  their  drivers,  and 
of*diildren  from  cruel  punishment  by  parents  and 
sdiool-masters.  They  dispersed  street  crowds.  They 
prescribed  sanitary  regulations.  The  authority  of  the 
Mohtesib  was  enforced  by  fines  and  scourging,  and, 
like  most  Arab  judicial  fimctionaries,  from  his  deci- 
sion there  was  no  appeal. 

In  the  demeanor  of  the  Spanish  khalifs  there  was 
little  of  that  haughty  reserve  which  we  are  accustomed 
to  associate  with  the  exercise  of  the  imperial  dignity. 
For  generations  no  atmosphere  of  exclusion  sur- 
rounded the  monarch.  As  a  rule,  he  was  easy  of 
access  to  the  meanest  of  his  subjects.  With  the  patri- 
archal condescension  of  his  forefathers,  he  frequently 
sat  in  judgment  at  the  gate  of  his  palace.  He  de- 
lighted in  assuming  disguises  and  in  visiting  by  night 
the  most  humble  precincts  of  his  capital.  He  super- 
intended in  person  the  construction  of  great  public 
works;  in  the  erection  of  religious  edifices,  it  was 
not  unusual  for  him  to  labor,  for  a  certain  time  each 
day,  with  his  own  hands.  His  charity,  a  duty  enjoined 
by  the  faith  of  which  he  was  the  national  represen- 
tative, was  boundless,  and  was  greatly  abused.  In 
the  execution  of  the  laws,  his  sentence  was  often  cruel 
even  to  ferocity;  but  an  apt  quotation  or  a  well- 
turned  couplet  often  turned  aside  the  axe  of  the  exe- 
cutioner. A  fortunate  event — ^the  birth  of  an  heir, 
a  recovery  from  illness,  the  tidings  of  an  important 
victory — ^afi^orded  an  occasion  for  a  noble  exhibition 
of  gratitude  and  mercy,  the  pardon  of  criminals,  the 
liberation  of  Christian  captives,  the  lavish  distribution 
of  alms.  The  high  and  generous  qualities  which  dis- 
tinguished the  princes  of  the  Ommeyade  line — quali- 
ties confirmed  and  developed  by  a  learned  education — 
prevented  the  exercise  of  those  acts  of  tyranny  which 


640  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

often  spring  from  the  possession  of  unlimited  and 
irresponsible  power.  But  with  all  their  greatness,  iheir 
clemency,  their  generosity,  the  khalif s  were  univer- 
sally hated.  The  obsequious  submission  exacted  *by 
their  oflSce  was  highly  repugnant  to  the  native  inde- 
pendence of  the  Arab,  whose  cherished  traditions 
required  obedience  only  to  the  chieftain  of  his  tribe. 
The  doctors  of  the  law,  who  regarded  all  learning 
inconsistent  with  the  Koran  as  heretical  or  suspicious, 
had  no  admiration  for  a  sovereign  who  collected  great 
libraries,  translated  the  infidel  works  of  antiquity,  and 
patronized  studies  whose  results  savored  of  magic  and 
sorcery.  Among  the  aristocracy  the  spirit  of  insub- 
ordination, always  strong,  was  intensified  by  the  vigi- 
lance and  severity  with  which  it  was  suppressed,  by 
the  memory  of  past  renown,  and  by  the  hope  of  future 
revolution  that  might  open  an  avenue  to  the  throne. 
The  incongruous  elements  composing  the  masses,  held 
together  solely  by  fear,  incapable  of  fusion,  detesting 
each  other  with  unquenchable  hatred,  yet  joining  in 
the  universal  execration  of  their  rulers,  were  ready  for 
any  emergency  which  might  afford  an  opportunity  for 
bloodshed  and  rapine.  It  was  the  intolerant  f aquis 
who  were  responsible  for  the  deluge  of  African  bar- 
barians that  overwhelmed  the  empire.  It  was  the  pop- 
ulace which  renounced  its  allegiance  to  the  govern- 
ment in  the  horn*  of  national  peril.  The  ambition  of 
rival  nobles  established  the  score  of  petty  kingdoms 
whose  dissensions  and  weakness  made  possible  the  suc- 
cess of  the  conunon  enemy. 

Nor  were  the  characters  of  the  khalif  s  always  sudi 
as  inspire  respect.  Considerations  of  political  expe- 
diency, if  not  of  unquestioning  religious  belief,  en- 
forced their  strict  observance  of  the  ceremonies  of 
public  worship.  But  with  this  concession  to  popular 
prejudice,  the  apparent  devotional  obligations  of  the 
Successors  of  the  Prophet  not  infrequently  termi- 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  641 

nated.  Some,  indeed,  were  men  of  eminent  piety  and 
zeaL  Others,  however,  were  considered  of  suspicious 
orthodoxy.  The  preferment  of  Jews  and  infidels  to 
posts  of  high  responsibility  was  looked  upon  as  incon- 
sistent with  the  professions  of  a  devout  Mussulman. 
The  pursuit  of  philosophy,  the  mysterious  studies  of 
the  laboratory,  the  toleration  of  pantheistic  doctrines, 
were  regarded  with  equal  distrust  and  disfavor.  It 
was  known  that  thousands  of  works  in  the  libraries  of 
the  empire  treated  of  prohibited  subjects.  It  was 
more  than  suspected  that  certain  Commanders  of  the 
Faithful  were  addicted  to  the  habitual  use  of  wine, 
and  sometimes  surpassed  the  limits  of  moderation  in 
its  indulgence.  There  were  other  Koranic  admonitions 
of  even  graver  importance  flagrantly  defied.  It  is  evi- 
dent, from  the  unmistakable  allusions  of  Arab  histo- 
rians, that  many  of  the  wisest  and  most  distinguished 
princes  of  Mohanmiedan  Spain  were  given  to  the  prac- 
tice of  unspeakable  vices  of  Oriental  origin,  and  that 
these  crimes  against  decency  were  of  such  frequent 
occurrence  as  scarcely  to  elicit  a  passing  notice.  The 
greatest  tyrants  among  them  were  slaves  to  the  foolish 
vagaries  of  women.  A  single  instance  will  suffice  to 
show  this  fond  subserviency  to  feminine  caprice.  Ho- 
mequia,  wife  of  Motamid,  Prince  of  Seville,  who  was 
famed  for  his  learning  and  wisdom,  having  one  day 
from  her  windows  seen  some  children  wading  in  the 
mud,  expressed  a  desire  to  divert  herself  in  the  same 
manner.  Thereupon  Motamid  caused  the  floor  of 
the  principal  court  of  the  palace  to  be  thickly  covered 
with  a  paste  of  musk,  camphor,  ambergris,  and  spices, 
mixed  with  rose-water;  and  the  favorite  with  her 
attendants  disported  themselves  for  a  few  hours  in 
this  precious  mud,  at  an  expense  of  tens  of  thousands 
of  pieces  of  gold. 

Guarded  in  his  public  utterances,  sentiments  ex- 
pressed by  the  khalif  in  the  privacy  of  the  palace,  and 

Vol.  III.— 41 


642  HiSTOBT  OF  THE 

which  conveyed  no  exalted  idea  of  his  sincerity  as  the 
venerated  head  of  a  great  religious  system,  often 
reached  the  outside  world.  Music,  reprobated  by  the 
Koran  as  an  incentive  to  idleness  and  vice,  was  one  of 
the  most  popular  amusements  of  the  imperial  court. 
The  licentious  dances  of  the  East,  which  had  rendered 
Spain  infamous  from  the  days  of  the  Phcenidans, 
were  daily  perfoi^ned  in  the  presence  of  aristocratic 
assemblies.  The  palace  swarmed  with  catamites  and 
buffoons.  Astrology  and  divination,  especially  con- 
demned by  Mohammed  as  reminiscences  of  Paganism 
and  offensive  to  Gkxi,  were  practised  everywhere, 
almost  without  concealment.  While  these  violations 
of  Moslem  law  by  its  representative  horrified  the  de- 
vout, it  afforded  a  pernicious  example  to  the  people, 
ever  ready  to  profit  by  the  foibles  of  their  superiors. 
Under  the  later  khalif  s,  Moorish  society  in  the  Penin- 
sula became  frightfully  corrupt.  The  secret  contempt 
for  religion  was  only  accentuated  by  the  apparent 
regard  manifested  for  its  outward  observances.  Infi- 
delity was  rife  among  all  classes.  The  people,  from 
the  noble  to  the  beggar,  indulged  in  brutalizing  sensu- 
ality. In  their  excesses  they  once  more  demonstrated 
the  truth  of  the  principle  that  the  highest  civilization 
as  well  as  the  most  degraded  ignorance  are  equally 
unfavorable  to  the  development  of  principles  of  mo- 
rality; that  the  hardships  endured  by  races  the  least 
removed  from  the  brute  creation  and  the  profligacy 
engendered  by  the  splendors  of  the  most  polished  soci- 
eties are  alike  destructive  of  the  noblest  instincts  of 
mankind;  or,  in  the  language  of  the  great  Dutch 
historian, ''  that  a  singular  analogy  exists  between  the 
vices  of  decadence  and  the  vices  of  barbarism."  The 
heartless,  cynical,  and  debauched  atmosphere  which 
enveloped  tiie  court  of  Hischem  II.,  and  whose  evil 
effects  upon  the  nation  the  great  abilities  of  AI-Man- 
sur  were  not  sufficient  to  redeem,  offered  no  sugges- 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Europe  648 

tdon  of  the  pious  spirit  under  whose  influence  the 
khalif ate  was  founded.  The  enormous  wealth  of  the 
country  permitted  a  display  of  license  and  luxury  of 
which  the  annals  of  degenerate  Rome  alone  can  fur- 
nish a  parallel.  The  markets  were  crowded  with 
female  slaves  collected  from  such  distant  regions  as 
Finland,  Ethiopia,  Hindustan,  and  the  Caucasus.  Of 
these  the  harem  of  the  IQialif  absorbed  a  large  pro- 
portion; that  of  Al-Nassir  contained  nearly  seven 
thousand.  In  an  age  when  intellectual  accomplish- 
ments were  valued  almost  as  highly  as  the  charms  of 
person  and  manner,  it  was  no  unusual  circumstance 
for  an  educated  slave  to  bring  four  thousand  pieces 
of  gold.  The  dress  of  even  the  ordinary  female  servi- 
tors of  the  harem  exceeded  in  richness  the  attire  of 
wealthy  ladies  of  to-day;  that  of  the  favorites  of  the 
prince  displayed  the  prodigal  magnificence  of  the  most 
opulent  and  powerful  of  empires. 

In  the  celebration  of  public  festivals  the  pomp  of 
ihe  nobles  and  merdiants — ^the  gorgeous  appointments 
of  their  households,  their  imposing  array  of  slaves  and 
eunuchs,  the  beauties  of  their  seraglio,  the  glittering 
damascened  armor,  the  silks  embroidered  with  gold, 
the  sheen  of  priceless  gems — ^awakened  the  astonish- 
ment of  the  stranger  and  provoked  the  sullen  and 
impotent  anger  of  the  populace.  In  the  homes  of 
the  wealthy,  the  rarest  perfumes — essences  of  rose, 
jasmine,  and  orange,  the  incense  of  musk  and  amber- 
gris— diffused  through  the  palatial  apartments  the 
odors  so  grateful  to  the  senses  of  the  voluptuous  Arab. 
The  bath,  at  once  a  religious  necessity,  a  hygienic  insti- 
tution, and  an  instrument  of  luxurious  pleasure,  vied 
in  the  splendor  of  its  equipment  and  furniture  with 
the  most  sumptuous  establishments  of  imperial  Rome. 
The  public  baths  were  used — ^as  they  still  are  in  all 
Moslem  countries — ^not  alone  for  the  purposes  of  rest 
and  ablution,  but  for  gossip,  entertainment,  and  in- 


644  HisroEY  OF  THE 

trigue.  It  was  usual  for  women  to  pass  many  hours 
within  their  precincts  attended  by  their  slaves,  to  be 
regaled  with  delicate  confections,  and  to  be  soothed 
by  the  music  of  itinerant  musicians.  The  pernicious 
effects  of  the  presence  of  evil  genii,  who,  according 
to  an  ancient  superstition,  were  believed  to  haunt  these 
localities,  were  averted  by  the  repetition  of  pious  texts 
and  by  the  wearing  of  amulets.  Mohammedan  pre- 
judice, not  without  cause,  regarded  the  public  bath 
with  suspicion  as  a  convenient  means  of  moral  cor- 
ruption; and  those  whose  circumstances  permitted  it, 
surrounded  this  institution  of  personal  enjoyment  and 
religious  necessity  with  the  privacy  of  domestic  life. 
In  the  abodes  of  the  rich  it  was  invested  with  all  the 
splendor  which  the  command  of  unlimited  means  could 
provide.  The  tessellated  floor  was  composed  of  the 
rarest  marbles.  The  walls  were  encrusted  with  mosaic. 
Through  curiously  wrought  windows  of  colored  glass 
the  tempered  light  broke  into  a  thousand  variegated 
hues.  The  pipes  were  of  massy  silver,  the  vessels  not 
infrequently  of  gold.  In  the  outer  apartments  the 
floors  were  covered  with  silken  carpets,  and  tapers, 
from  which  emanated  the  most  exquisite  and  costly 
perfumes,  burned  slowly  in  ghttering  lustres  of 
rock-crystal  and  alabaster.  The  luxury  of  the  Mos- 
lem culminated  in  the  bath.  The  latter,  borrowed 
from  the  Romans,  was  invested  with  a  magnificence 
unknown  even  to  the  sumptuous  thermae  of  the 
Caesars.  The  ancients,  with  all  their  civilization,  were 
unacquainted  with  soap,  which  is  an  invention  of  the 
Arabs.  An  indispensable  appendage  to  the  worship 
of  Islam,  the  first  building  erected  in  a  city  occupied 
by  the  Mussulman  arms,  was  one  designed  for  pur- 
poses of  public  ablution.  In  some  respects  it  even 
took  precedence  of  the  mosque,  for  a  Christian  church 
could  be  purified  and  consecrated  to  religious  service, 
but  no  corresponding  substitution  of  the  bath  was 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Eubofe  645 

possible  among  infidels,  who  regarded  evidences  of 
filthy  habits  as  an  infallible  criterion  of  orthodoxy; 
and  without  complete  lustration  on  Fridays  no  Mo- 
hammedan was  fit  to  enter  the  temple  of  God.  So 
important  was  this  duty  considered,  that  it  was  not 
unusual  for  persons  in  the  humblest  walks  of  life  to 
sacrifice  even  their  physical  wants  for  the  sake  of 
cleanliness  and  to  spend  their  last  dirhem  for  soap, 
preferring  rather  to  endure  the  pangs  of  hunger  than 
to  incur  the  reproach  incident  to  personal  neglect. 

With  the  frequent  use  of  the  bath  was  also  intro- 
duced the  practice  of  wearing  underclothing,  which, 
often  changed,  is  so  conducive  to  physical  purity.  The 
domestication  of  the  cotton  plant  in  the  Peninsula, 
which  cheapened  the  soft  and  delicate  fabrics  woven 
from  its  fibre,  promoted  the  adoption  of  this  custom 
even  among  Christians;  and  the  name  of  the  now 
indispensable  undergarment  worn  next  the  skin  by 
both  sexes  in  every  civilized  country  has  passed  almost 
imaltered  into  the  principal  languages  of  Europe.  In 
most  of  its  details  the  dress  of  the  Spanish  Arabs  was 
borrowed  from  the  Orient.  Their  flowing  robes  were 
generally  white,  the  peculiar  color  of  the  reigning 
family,  as  well  as  that  best  adapted  to  the  temperature 
of  a  southern  climate.  The  turban  was  considered 
the  appropriate  badge  of  the  learned  professions, 
whose  members  would  have  regarded  its  assumption 
by  persons  of  another  calling  as  an  unpardonable 
breach  of  privilege.  Individuals  of  the  middle  class 
wore  caps  of  green  or  red;  in  later  times  the  Jews,  as 
a  distinguishing  mark  of  their  race,  were  restricted 
to  yellow.  The  common  people  went  bareheaded  or 
boimd  a  silken  scarf  about  their  temples,  as  is  still  to 
be  seen  in  many  parts  of  Andalusia.  All  who  could 
afi[^ord  it  displayed  a  profusion  of  rings,  many  of  them 
talismans;  there  were  few,  however  poor,  without  a 
signet  of  some  description. 


646  HlSTOUY  OF  THE 

The  maxims  of  phflosophy,  the  enjoyment  of  un- 
equalled educational  privileges,  the  enlargement  of 
the  mental  faculties  obtained  by  travel,  were  alike  un- 
able to  divest  the  Spanish  Arabs  of  puerile  supersti- 
tions. The  tenacity  with  which  human  nature  clings 
to  these  legacies  of  ignorance  was  well  understood  by 
Mohammed,  who  incorporated  many  of  them  into  his 
religion.  The  ordinary  Moor  of  the  epoch  of  Al- 
Hakem  II.  was  as  sincere  a  believer  in  the  importance 
of  dreams,  in  the  significance  of  omens,  in  the  occult 
virtues  of  amulets,  as  the  Bedouin  who  roamed  over 
the  Desert  five  hundred  years  before  the  Hegira. 
Even  the  most  wise  and  philosophical  of  the  khalifs 
entertained  diviners  and  astrologers.  It  will  require 
but  an  instant's  reflection  to  recall  to  the  mind  of  tiie 
reader  events  in  his  own  experience  which  demonstrate 
the  ineradicable  character  of  similar  superstitions,  a 
weakness  incident  to  humanity  from  which  no  race, 
age,  or  civilization  seems  to  be  entirely  free.  There 
were  many  kinds  of  magic  and  enchantment  for  the 
counteraction  of  whose  effects  various  ceremonies  were 
prescribed.  The  most  dreaded  of  these  was  the  evil- 
eye,  a  belief  in  whose  influence,  for  centuries  preva- 
lent among  Orientals,  was  recognized  by  Mohanomed 
himself.  Of  sovereign  efficacy  in  averting  its  conse- 
quences were  the  ejaculation  of  well-known  texts  and 
the  possession  of  certain  talismans.  The  hand,  which 
represented  symbolically  the  five  cardinal  principles 
of  Islam,  was  one  of  the  most  popular  forms  of  the 
latter.  Long  before  the  invasion  of  Tarik,  it  had  been 
the  most  generally  adopted  emblem  for  protection 
against  malign  influence  used  in  the  Moslem  world. 
It  was  probably  of  Pagan  origin,  like  many  of  the 
ancient  symbols  of  Islam.  The  Romans  may  have 
received  it  from  the  Arabs,  for  it  appears  in  the  centre 
of  a  laurel  wreath  on  an  imperial  standard  upon  the 
colmnn  of  Trajan.    Kings  sculptured  it  on  llie  key- 


MooBiSH  Emfibe  IK  EUSOFE  647 

stones  of  their  palaces.  Feasants  painted  it  over  the 
doorways  of  their  hovels.  It  was  one  of  the  devices  of 
the  khidifs.  Carved  in  jet,  camelian,  or  agate,  it  was 
prized  by  women  more  highly  than  the  costliest  gem. 
At  the  time  of  the  Conquest  of  Granada  it  was  so  fre- 
quently worn  that  the  suppression  of  its  use  claimed 
the  attention  of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  and 
severe  penalties  were  denounced  against  all  in  whose 
possession  it  was  found.  In  defiance  of  these  ob- 
stacles, however,  the  custom  survived,  and  the  talis- 
manic  hand — along  with  the  crucifix,  the  Agnus  Dei, 
the  rosary,  and  other  accessories  of  Christian  supersti- 
tion— ^is  still  to  be  met  with  among  the  mountain  peas- 
antry of  Spain. 

The  fertile  mind  of  the  Arab,  whose  early  existence 
had  been  passed  amidst  the  impressive  solitude  of  the 
Desert,  delighted  to  people  wiiii  imaginary  beings  the 
limitless  domain  of  the  invisible  world.  The  learned 
society  of  Cordova  was  far  from  renoimcing  a  belief 
sanctioned  by  the  religion  of  the  state  and  entertained 
for  centuries  by  the  aristocracy  of  Arabia.  The  mys- 
teries of  demonology  exerted  an  uncontrollable  fas- 
cination over  the  multitude.  An  infinite  gradation  of 
power  and  malignity  characterized  the  vast  array  of 
spirits,  from  the  hideous  ghoul  that  haunted  the 
charnel-house  and  the  cemetery  to  the  majestic  genii 
that  stood  in  the  presence  of  the  celestial  throne, 
whose  armor  blazing  with  light  and  jewels  recalls  the 
panoply  of  Milton's  angels;  whose  gigantic  forms 
assumed  at  will  the  shapes  of  seraphs  or  pillars  of 
vapor;  and  whose  martial  hosts,  invested  with  a 
strange  reality,  appeared  to  the  excitable  Arab  an 
army  of  sentient  beings  rather  than  the  gorgeous 
phantoms  of  an  enchanted  vision. 

The  civil  organization  of  the  Spanish  Khalifate 
was  one  of  the  prodigies  of  the  age.  Order  was  en- 
forced by  regulations  whose  effects  were  experienced 


648  HiSTOSY  OF  THE 

equally  in  the  capital  and  in  the  extreme  frontier  out- 
post of  the  empire.  Justice  was  administered  quickly, 
wisely,  impartially.  Taxes  were  regularly  appor- 
tioned, and  the  laborer  was  always  sure  of  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  product  of  his  toil.  By  means  of  watch- 
towers  and  beacons,  information  could  be  transmitted 
over  great  distances  in  a  short  time.  In  a  few  hours 
the  approach  of  an  enemy  was  known  throughout  all 
Andalusia.  As  early  as  tiie  reign  of  Abd-al-Rahman 
II.  an  extensive  system  of  posts  was  established.  The 
stations,  where  relays  of  swift  horses  were  kept  for 
the  service  of  the  government,  were  each  under  charge 
of  an  oflScer  whose  duty  it  was  to  correspond  directly 
with  the  khalif ,  and  to  inform  him  of  all  that  trans- 
pired in  the  vicinity  which  might  come  to  his  knowl- 
edge. *  Where  more  rapid  communication  was  neces- 
sary, carrier-pigeons  were  employed  for  the  trans- 
mission of  important  despatches,  a  custom  introduced 
from  Sicily.  Six  hundred  years  after  this  there  was 
no  postal  system  in  any  country  of  Europe.  The 
highways  were  protected  by  barracks,  from  which 
patrols  were  regularly  detailed  to  watch  over  the 
safety  of  travellers  and  to  keep  order  in  the  surround- 
ing country.  All  officials,  without  exception,  were 
directly  responsible  to  the  sovereign,  and  held  their 
places  during  his  pleasure.  An  army  of  spies  in  every 
foreign  court  and  in  the  council  and  household  of 
every  provincial  governor  kept  the  coiul;  informed 
not  only  of  matters  which  affected  the  policy  of 
great  kingdoms,  but  of  the  most  trivial  circumstances 
growing  out  of  the  intercourse  of  daily  life.  When 
a  new  province  was  conquered,  it  was  the  first  duty 
of  the  imperial  secretaries  to  prepare  schedules  of  its 
agricultural  and  mineral  resources,  its  commerce,  its 
wealth,  and  its  population. 

The  character  of  the  Mussulmans  of  Spain  was 
defiled  by  all  the  vices  which  follow  in  the  train  of 


Moorish  Empule  in  Europe  649 

prodigal  luxury  and  boundless  wealth.  Among  these 
drunkenness  was  one  of  the  most  common.  Person- 
ages of  the  highest  rank  were  not  ashamed  to  appear 
in  public  while  intoxicated.  Wine  was  often  served 
at  the  royal  table.  Al-Mansur  indulged  in  its  use 
habitually.  His  son,  Abd-al-Rahman,  was  a  con- 
firmed drunkard.  Once  when  the  muezzin  announced 
the  hour  of  prayer,  this  young  reprobate  exclaimed, 
"Were  he  to  say  *  Come  to  drink!'  it  would  sound 
much  better."  Many  of  the  rulers  of  the  Moorish 
principalities  were  notorious  for  their  excesses.  Some 
Moslems  drank  white  wine,  as  they  declared  that 
the  prohibition  of  the  Prophet  only  applied  to  red. 
Hypocrites  used  vessels  of  metal  for  their  libations, 
so  that  their  shortcomings  might  not  be  detected  by 
their  neighbors. 

In  Arabian  Spain,  which  inherited  many  of  the  dia- 
bolical arts  of  Asia,  poisoning  was  a  most  popular 
mode  of  revenge.  Deadly  substances  were  conveyed 
or  administered  to  the  victim  by  methods  against 
which  no  precautions  could  avail, — in  robes  of  honor, 
in  golden  caskets,  in  suits  of  armor,  in  perfumed 
gloves,  in  flowers,  in  delicious  sweetmeats.  They 
were  often  enclosed  under  the  jewels  of  rings  for  use 
in  sudden  emergency.  The  barbarous  practice  of 
using  poisoned  weapons  long  prevailed.  The  moim- 
taineers  of  Granada  during  the  Conquest  dipped  their 
arrow-heads  in  aconite  and  hellebore,  and  the  wounds 
which  they  inflicted  generally  ended  in  torture  the  life 
of  the  stricken  enemy. 

The  people  of  the  difi^erent  cities  of  Andalusia  had 
each  their  peculiarities,  few  of  which  elicited  compli- 
mentary notices  from  strangers.  The  inhabitants  of 
Cordova  were  famous  for  their  lawlessness  and  their 
hypocrisy,  their  pomp  and  their  epicureanism ;  in  those 
of  Seville  voluptuousness,  indolence,  and  frivolity 
were  predominant  traits;  those  of  Granada  were  pro- 


650  History  of  the 

verbial  for  vindictiyeness  and  turbulence;  tiiose  of 
Xeres  for  politeness  and  elegance  of  manners.  Na- 
tional degeneracy  early  indicated  the  approaching  and 
inevitable  dissolution  of  the  empire.  The  posterity 
of  the  conquerors,  who  in  three  years  had  marched 
from  Gibraltar  to  the  centre  of  France,  became  in 
the  course  of  a  few  generations  cowardly,  effeminate, 
corrupt.  The  geographer  Ibn-Haukal,  who  visited 
Spain  in  the  tenth  century,  described  the  people  of 
the  Peninsula  as  feeble  in  body  and  light  and  vacil- 
lating in  character.  Ibn-Said,  who  wrote  in  the 
eleventh,  expresses  surprise  that  the  Castilians  had 
not  long  before  expelled  them  from  the  land.  !Even 
in  an  age  of  decadence,  however,  the  influence  of 
former  traditions  was  not  easily  obliterated.  Despite 
revolution,  conflagration,  and  African  barbarity,  Cor- 
dova in  the  twelfth  century  was  still  the  intellectual 
centre  of  Spain.  The  difference  between  the  two 
great  cities  of  Andalusia  was  from  the  beginning  in- 
dicated by  the  fact  that  when  a  scholar  died  his  books 
were  sent  to  Cordova  to  be  sold;  but  the  instruments 
of  a  musician  were  always  disposed  of  to  the  best 
advantage  at  Seville. 

With  the  Spanish  Moors  a  plurality  of  names  was 
considered  an  indication  of  social  importance,  an 
opinion  which  has  been  transmitted  to  the  Spaniards. 
The  beard,  also,  from  riemote  antiquity  regarded  as 
a  sign  of  dignity  and  wisdom  among  Orientals  and 
often  reaching  to  the  girdle,  was,  according  to  uni- 
versal custom  among  learned  Moslems  of  the  Penin- 
sula, restricted  in  length  to  a  palm.  Only  the  f  aquis 
and  the  doctors  of  the  law  wore  long  hair.  No  one 
except  slaves  was  shaven.  To  seize  a  person  by  the 
beard  was  an  unpardonable  outrage,  and  even  to  touch 
a  woman's  hair  was  an  insult  which  might  have  cost 
the  offender  his  life  at  the  hands  of  the  mob.  The 
khalif  s  and  all  personages  of  rank  dyed  their  beards 


MooBisH  Empire  in  Eubofe  651 

red  with  henna  to  distinguish  themselves  from  the 
Christians  and  the  Jews,  who  were  never  permitted  to 
use  it 

No  characteristic  of  the  Arabs  of  Spain  was  more 
marked  than  their  passionate  love  of  jewels  and  per- 
fumes. According  to  then*  belief  and  traditions  every 
precious  stone  had  its  peculiar  virtue.  The  emerald 
banished  evil  spirits;  the  ruby  possessed  the  property 
of  magnifying  objects;  the  turquoise  afforded  im- 
munity from  misfortune.  The  cat*s-eye  was  sup- 
})osed  to  render  the  wearer  invisible.  Mohammed  had 
declared  that  the  camelian  conferred  happiness  upon 
its  possessor.  The  sapphire  banished  melancholy. 
The  diamond  was  beneficial  in  insanity;  the  opal  cured 
sore  eyes;  ,the  red-bezoar  was  a  safeguard  against 
poison.  The  talismanic  qualities  presumed  to  be  in- 
herent in  many  gems  were  partly  attributed  to  the 
astral  influence  supposed  to  affect  inanimate  objects 
as  well  as  living  organisms,  and  partly  ascribed  to  the 
Divine  Essence  believed  to  pervade  aU  matter.  To  be 
efficacious,  it  was  indispensable  that  the  cutting  or  en- 
graving of  a  stone  should  be  done  while  certain  con- 
stellations were  in  the  ascendant.  The  Moorish  lapi- 
daries were  experts  in  their  art.  With  the  aid  of  tiie 
bow,  copper  wheels,  and  emery,  they  produced  work 
little  inferior  to  that  of  the  most  skilful  diamond- 
cutter  of  to-day.  Even  in  the  seal,  an  indispensable 
mark  of  consequence  with  the  Moslem,  the  shape  had 
ordinarily  an  important  significance.  Those  of  the 
khalifs  were  usually  round  or  polygonal;  those  of 
diplomatists  square;  those  of  financiers  oval. 

Love  of  flowers  was  a  veritable  passion  among  the 
Spanish  Moslems.  As  they  were  the  greatest  bota- 
nists in  the  world,  so  no  other  nation  approached  them 
in  the  perfection  of  their  floriculture  and  the  ardor 
with  which  they  pursued  it  The  profusion  and  va- 
riety of  blossoms  of  every  description  were  marvellous 


652  History  of  the 

and  enchanting;  each  had  a  meaning,  by  whose  aid 
tender  sentiments  could  be  conveyed  without  the  in- 
stnmientality  of  speech;  they  were  associated  with 
every  pubKc  ceremony  and  with  the  most  prosaic  oc- 
currences of  domestic  life;  they  dispensed  their  fra- 
grance from  the  priceless  vase  of  the  palace;  they 
covered  the  cottage  of  the  laborer;  they  formed  the 
daily  decoration  of  the  luxuriant  tresses  of  the  prin- 
cess and  the  peasant;  their  garlands  were  the  common 
playthings  of  the  infant;  on  the  marble  column  which 
marked  the  sepulchre  of  a  virgin  was  sculptured  a 
single  rose. 

The  social  life  of  the  Moors  of  Spain  and  Sicily 
presents  us  with  a  picture  at  once  lively,  sensual,  in- 
tellectual,— ^where  the  highest  physical  enjoyment,  di- 
vested of  every  feature  of  coarseness,  was  varied  by 
the  constant  exhibition  of  wit  and  learning.  To  a  con- 
siderable extent, — ^yet  far  less  than  at  the  present  day 
in  Mohammedan  lands, — ^it  was,  as  a  necessary  result 
of  their  domestic  regulations,  bounded  by  the  walls 
of  the  harem.  A  feverish  activity,  such  as  pervades 
the  atmosphere  of  oiu*  modem  cities  and  which  shows 
no  abatement  after  simset,  was  unknown  to  the  Mos- 
lem residents  of  Cordova  and  Palermo.  The  streets 
of  those  great  capitals,  almost  impassable  by  day, 
were  at  night  deserted  save  by  the  guardians  of  the 
peace.  In  the  court-yards  of  private  mansions,  on 
the  other  hand,  all  was  mirth  and  gayety.  Lamps  of 
colored  glass  were  suspended  from  the  balconies.  The 
air  was  laden  with  the  grateful  odors  of  countless 
blossoms.  From  the  terrace  which  crowned  every 
Moorish  dwelling  could  be  traced  the  silvery  Guadal- 
quivir, as  it  wound  its  tortuous  way  through  endless 
olive  and  pomegranate  plantations,  and  the  glimmer- 
ing rows  of  lights  belonging  to  the  suburban  villas 
which  extended  to  the  distant  slopes  of  the  Sierra 
Morena.    From  the  deep  shadows  of  the  palm-  and 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  658 

orange-trees  came  the  harmonious  strams  of  lute  and 
mandolin  mingled  with  the  gentle  murmur  of  the 
fountains.  In  one  gallery  of  the  arcade  women  of 
exquijsite  grace  and  beauty  executed  the  voluptuous 
dances  which  had  charmed  the  people  of  Tyre  and 
Carthage  fifteen  centuries  before;  in  another,  the 
professional  story-teller  recounted  tales  of  wonder 
with  their  fascinating  accessories  of  astrologers,  genii, 
magicians,  fairies,  and  enchanters.  During  the  holy 
festival  of  Ramadhan,  when  the  Moslem  indenmified 
himself  at  night  for  the  abstinence  and  privations  of 
the  day,  Andalusian  life  in  the  gay  capital  of  the 
khalif  ate  was  seen  to  its  highest  advantage.  The  city 
was  illuminated.  The  mosques  were  never  closed. 
The  baths  were  crowded.  In  the  seclusion  of  do- 
mestic privacy  there  were  feasting,  dissipation,  often 
unseemly  orgies,  until  dawn.  Buffoons  and  jugglers 
entertained  with  indelicate  jests  and  antics  the  groups 
of  hilarious  loungers  in  the  parks  and  on  the  comers. 
Itinerant  minstrels,  progenitors  of  the  troubadour, 
chanted  in  monotonous  accents  romantic  ballads  of 
love  and  chivalry.  Gilded  litters,  guarded  by  eunuchs 
with  drawn  scimetars,  traversed  the  streets.  On  the 
Guadalquivir,  lighted  by  the  brilliant  radiance  of  the 
moon  and  perfumed  with  the  odors  of  a  thousand 
gardens,  floated  innumerable  boats  hung  with  many- 
colored  lanterns  and  garlanded  with  flowers.  Among 
the  graver  part  of  the  population,  the  gratification  of 
the  senses  was  discarded  for  the  more  profitable  diver- 
sions of  the  intellect, — for  philosophical  experiments, 
learned  discussions,  literary  contests.  In  the  library, 
the  scholar  collated  the  historians  of  Greece  and 
Egypt.  In  the  caravansary,  the  man  of  leisure  played 
chess  and  backgammon  or  watched  the  swaying  move- 
ments of  the  half -nude  dancing-girls.  On  all  sides 
resounded  the  clapping  of  hands, — ^the  Oriental  call 
for  servants, — still  heard  to-day  in  every  public  place 


654  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

in  Southern  Spain.  The  women  donned  Iheir  richest 
apparel.  Their  forms  were  enveloped  in  chemises  of 
the  finest  linen;  their  trousers,  which  reached  to  the 
knee,  were  hlue,  green,  yellow,  or  scarlet;  their  tunic, 
of  two  colors,  was  richly  embroidered  with  gold. 
Leggings  in  many  folds  imparted  to  their  lower  limbs 
a  singularly  clumsy  and  awkward  appearance.  Their 
feet  were  enclosed  in  slippers.  An  ample  garment 
which  could  be  used  for  both  a  cloak  and  a  veil  effec- 
tually concealed  the  identity  of  the  owner  in  the  mov- 
ing crowds.  To  a  comb  placed  at  the  back  of  the  head 
was  attached  a  scarf  of  elegant  material  and  gauzy 
texture,  the  prototype  of  the  Spanish  mantilla.  The 
material  of  the  costume  common  to  every  class  was 
ordinarily  of  silk.  For  ornaments,  the  rich  displayed 
a  profusion  of  dazzling  gems;  the  poor  were  forced 
to  be  content  with  jingling  coins  and  amulets.  All, 
without  exception,  like  the  Moslem  females  of  to-day, 
heightened  the  lustre  of  their  eyes  with  antimony  and 
stained  their  finger-tips  with  henna.  Their  nomen- 
clature was  suggestive  of  the  romantic  character 
which  invested  their  beautiful  country.  Such  names 
as  Saida,  "Happy;"  Sobeiha,  "Aurora;"  Safia, 
"Pure;"  Ronmian,  "Pomegranate;"  Lonilion, 
"Pearl;"  Zahra,  "Flower,"  were  common  among 
the  Saracens  of  Spain. 

Under  the  Spanish  Arabs,  women  enjoyed  privi- 
leges from  which  they  were  rigidly  exdud^  in  other 
Mohammedan  countries.  They  appeared  everywhere 
unveiled.  As  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,  public 
opinion  not  only  permitted,  but  openly  encouraged, 
their  participation  in  the  national  and  provincial  con- 
tests for  the  palm  of  literary  excellence.  The  rare 
educational  facilities  of  the  khalifate  were  at  their 
disposal.  Many — ^proficient  in  poetry,  philosophy, 
grammar,  and  rhetoric — excited  universal  admiration 
by  the  scope  and  variety  of  their  mental  accomplish- 


MoosiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  655 

ments.  Some  even  became  the  political  advisers  of 
great  sovereigns.  These  circmnstances,  so  favorable 
to  the  development  and  exaltation  of  the  female  char- 
acter, eventually  procured  for  the  sex  a  consideration 
elsewhere  denied.  As  Mohammedanism  was  the  first 
of  creeds  to  spontaneously  recognize  the  right  of 
woman  to  an  amelioration  of  her  social  condition,  so 
in  the  Peninsula  the  Hispano-Arab  invested  her  per- 
sonality with  a  dignity  and  an  importance  heretofore 
not  conceded  to  her  merits  by  members  of  any  race 
or  religion.  From  such  novel  doctrines  were  evolved 
those  chivalrous  sentiments  which,  imparted  to  Eu- 
rope, effected  such  a  salutary  reformation  in  the 
intercourse  and  social  usages  of  mediseval  society. 
Mohanunedan  Spain  presents  the  only  instance,  in 
ancient  or  modem  history,  of  a  country  under  whose 
laws  and  customs  woman  did  not  exist  in  a  state  of 
tutelage.  The  quality  of  infant  or  chattel  has,  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  always  seemed  inseparable  from 
her  condition.  Among  races  highest  in  the  scale  of 
civilization,  her  inferiority  appeared  the  more  striking, 
partly  from  actual  legal  disabilities,  partly  from  con- 
trast. It  is  true  that  among  the  Greeks,  when  Athens 
was  at  the  summit  of  her  renown,  there  were  females 
of  polished  education,  of  extensive  knowledge,  gifted 
with  talents  of  tiie  highest  order,  able  to  cope  in  every 
intellectual  exercise  with  the  most  distinguished  schol- 
ars, philosophers,  and  statesmen.  But  these  were  few 
in  nimoiber,  and  belonged  to  a  class  which  modem 
prejudice  has  branded  as  infamous;  the  Athenian 
wife  of  the  time  of  Pericles  was  little  better  than  a 
slave.  Charlemagne  is  generally  conceded  to  have 
been  the  most  enlightened  Christian  sovereign  of  his 
epoch.  The  civilization  of  his  dominions  offers  a  vivid 
contrast  to  the  darkness  which  enveloped  contempo- 
raneous states  and  kingdoms.  He  professed  at  least  a 
nominal  respect  for  the  preeepts  of  Christianity.    He 


656  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

publicly  avowed  himself  the  champion  of  the  Holy 
See.  To  the  policy  inherited  by  his  successors  is 
largely  due  the  subsequent  increase  of  authority  which 
rescued  the  Papacy  from  contempt  and  made  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  for  centuries  the  dictator  of  Europe. 
The  learning  of  his  coiui;,  modified  and  in  a  measure 
directed  by  Arabic  influence,  was  far  from  mediocre. 
And  yet  the  old  chronicles  inform  us  that  this  great 
prince  in  the  presence  of  his  courtiers  engaged  with 
his  sister  in  a  personal  encoimter,  whose  result  was 
doubtful  until  the  vigorous  use  of  his  steel  gauntlet, 
which  knocked  out  several  teeth  of  his  amazonian  ad- 
versary, gave  him  the  advantage.  If  such  was  the 
treatment  accorded  to  ladies  of  the  highest  rank  in  the 
.  Middle  Ages,  the  degradation  of  women  belonging 
to  the  remaining  orders  of  society  can  scarcely  be  con- 
ceived. Nor  were  these  conditions  materially  im- 
proved for  centuries.  Even  so  late  as  1750,  the  laws 
of  England  permitted  women  to  be  treated  with  a 
severity  almost  barbarous;  nor  have  the  humiliating 
restrictions  bom  of  masculine  superiority  been  in  our 
age  entirely  removed.  During  the  reign  <5f  Charles 
II.  illiteracy  was  almost  universal;  learning  in  the  sex 
was  decried  as  pedantry  or  worse;  it  was  rarely  that 
a  housewife  could  write  her  name;  and  even  the  prin- 
cesses of  the  royal  blood  were  unable  to  speak  or  spell 
grammatically.  This  condition,  bom  of  ecclesiastical 
precept  derived  from  the  customs  of  a  remote  and 
barbarous  age  and  confirmed  by  national  depravity 
whose  tendency  was  to'  depreciate  and  ridicule  female 
virtue,  is  an  unfailing  sign  of  moral  perversity  and 
intellectual  decadence.  Eight  hundred  years  before, 
women  of  Cordova  had  established  an  enviable  reputa- 
tion for  their  proficiency  in  all  the  arts  which  con- 
tribute to  the  culture  of  nations;  for  the  skill  which 
they  exhibited  in  every  department  of  scientific  re- 
search;   for  their  profound  acquaintance  with  the 


MooBisH  Empire  in  Eubofe  657 

models  of  classic  antiquity;  for  their  originality  in 
poetical  composition;  for  the  signal  success  they 
achieved  in  the  literary  congresses,  wherein  they  were 
forced  to  compete  with  the  assembled  genius  and 
learning  of  the  empire.  They  were  treated  with  the 
dignified  respect  and  courtesy  which  were  due  to  high 
mental  attainments,  as  well  as  dictated  by  the  regu- 
lations of  chivalry  which  governed  the  conduct  of 
every  Moorish  cavalier.  These  demonstrations  of 
gallantry  never  degenerated,  however,  into  the  ful- 
some adulation  and  the  worship,  half  mystical,  half 
sensual,  and  expressed  in  terms  of  florid  hyperbole, 
that  prevailed  in  the  social  life  of  the  Limousin  and 
Proven9al  courts,  whose  development  marked  an  age 
imique  for  its  extravagance,  its  epicureanism,  its  licen- 
tiousness; an  age  of  ostentatious  asceticism  and  secret 
indulgence ;  an  age  when  ballad-singers  moralized  and 
bishops  abandoned  the  crosier  for  the  lute;  an  age  of 
arduous  pilgrimage  and  romantic  exploit;  the  age  of 
Jongleur,  Knight-errant,  Crusader,  and  Troubadour. 
In  spite  of  the  distinguished  consideration  they 
evinced  for  woman,  the  Moslems  of  Spain  were  un- 
able to  divest  themselves  of  the  prejudice  regarding 
the  fickleness  of  the  sex,  which,  from  inmiemorial  an- 
tiquity, had  been  accepted  as  one  of  its  prominent 
characteristics.  The  position  she  occupied  in  the  social 
polity  was  anomalous.  Her  features  were  exposed 
to  the  public  gaze;  she  was  permitted  to  attend  the 
lectures  of  the  University;  she  participated  in  aca- 
demical exhibitions.  But  the  liberty  she  enjoyed  was 
only  apparent.  Her  steps  were  constantly  guarded 
by  eunuchs.  Her  lord  was  not  less  suspicious  than 
his  Oriental  brethren,  and  she,  if  the  literatiu-e  of  the 
time  is  to  be  credited,  probably  for  fear  of  disappoint- 
ing him,  not  infrequently  gave  abundant  cause  for 
jealousy.  Nothing  discloses  the  general  sentiment  of 
a  people  upon  any  given  subject  so  comprehensively 

Vol.  hi     " 


658  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

as  its  proverbs  and  epigrams.  The  estimation  in  which 
the  Spanish  Arabs  held  the  feminine  character  is  in- 
dicated by  the  following  saying,  often  quoted  by 
them,  and  which  is  as  old  as  the  Pharaohs,  "  Never 
trust  in  women,  nor  rely  u})on  their  vows,  for  their 
pleasure  and  displeasure  depend  upon  their  passions. 
They  offer  a  false  affection,  while  perfidy  lurks 
within  their  garments.  By  the  tale  of  Joseph  be 
admonished,  and  guard  against  their  stratagems." 

The  question  of  polygamy  is  one  which  is  almost 
universally  viewed  through  a  false  medium.  Its  ex- 
istence in  the  torrid  climates  of  the  East  from  a  period 
of  unknown  antiquity  wotdd  seem  to  demonstrate 
at  least  the  practical  usefulness,  if  not  the  supreme 
physiological  necessity,  of  a  system  which  has  endured 
for  so  many  ages.  It  is  eminently  unfair  for  us  to 
condemn  a  practice  sanctioned  by  Holy  Writ  and 
recognized  by  the  patriarchs,  without  an  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  ethnological  conditions  under  which 
it  is  perpetuated.  What  public  opinion,  custom,  and 
long  experience  have  found  to  be  beneficial  and  have 
pronounced  not  inconsistent  with  morality,  is  very 
often  not  a  question  of  ethics,  but  merely  a  matter  of 
expediency.  Institutions  which  nations  inhabiting  the 
tropics  defend  as  necessary  could  not  be  adopted  with- 
out injury  by  the  sluggish  races  of  the  North ;  and  of 
their  propriety,  we  at  a  distance  of  eight  thousand 
miles  are  incompetent,  not  to  say  prejudiced,  judges. 
The  women  who  rose  to  such  distinction  under  the 
khalif  ate  were,  without  exception,  members  of  polyg- 
amous households,  a  circumstance  which  would  seem 
to  effectually  contradict  the  prevalent  idea  that  the 
system  of  the  harem  inevitably  tends  to  intellectual 
debasement.  The  standard  of  morals  imder  the  His- 
pano-Arab  domination  was  probably  much  superior  to 
that  which  now  obtains  in  the  great  capitals  of  Eu- 
rope.    The  deplorable  condition  of  modem  society, 


MooBiSH  Empire  in  Eubofe  659 

even  among  the  highly  cultivated,  where  monogamy 
nominally  exists,  is  disclosed  by  the  frequency  of 
divorce  cases  and  the  significant  revelations  of  crimi- 
nal statistics.  It  demonstrates  that  the  primitive  im- 
pulse which  among  barbarians  leads  to  communal 
marriage — ^the  original  social  state  of  man — ^is  not 
only  not  extinct,  but  even  generally  prevails,  although 
decorously  concealed,  and,  however  repugnant  to 
every  principle  of  morality,  must  be  recognized  as  a 
powerful  and  retarding  element  of  our  boasted  civi- 
lization. 

The  chivalrous  coiui;esy  bom  of  intellectual  culture 
and  rejBned  surroundings  which  distinguished  the 
Spanish  Moslems  in  all  the  phases  of  their  social  life 
was,  as  above  stated,  eminently  conspicuous  in  their 
treatment  of  females.  The  latter  were,  for  the  most 
part,  highly  educated.  Even  to-day,  in  the  harems  of 
Constantinople,  it  is  not  unusual  to  see  women  fine 
musicians,  excellent  conversationalists,  familiar  with 
the  principles  of  art,  able  to  express  themselves  flu- 
ently in  three  or  four  languages.  Such  accomplish- 
ments are  still  sufficiently  rare  to  confer  distinction 
upon  their  possessors  in  London,  Paris,  and  New 
York.  Under  the  khalif  s  of  the  House  of  Ommeyah, 
the  mental  faculties  of  the  sex  were  cultivated  to 
a  marked  degree;  no  field  of  literature  was  closed 
to  those  who  aspired  to  eminence.  They  were  every- 
where received  with  great  respect.  They  were  never 
insulted  in  public.  They  traversed  districts  in  revolt 
without  molestation.  The  laws  protected  them  against 
the  excesses  of  marital  jealousy.  If  divorced,  the 
wife  was  certain  of  maintenance.  It  was  she  who,  at 
marriage,  received  the  dowry.  Public  opinion  de- 
nounced as  infamous  the  husband  who  permitted  his 
spouse  to  labor  in  order  that  he  might  profit  by  her 
earnings.  In  case  of  his  death  she  was  entitled  to  a 
share  of  his  estate.    All  things  considered,  the  legal 


680  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

status  of  woman  under  the  khalifate  appears  to  ad- 
vantage when  compared  with  that  to  which  she  is  re- 
stricted by  modem  legislation.  If  polygamy  entailed 
the  unhappiness  which  foreign  prejudice  is  accus- 
tomed to  attribute  to  it,  the  practice  would  long  since 
have  been  abolished.  It  is  but  a  natural  result  of 
climatic  and  physiological  conditions,  an  apparently 
indispensable  factor  in  the  maintenance  of  Oriental 
life. 

Slavery  in  Europe  under  the  Moslems  brought 
with  it  the  numerous  privileges  and  indulgent  treat- 
ment enjoined  by  the  Prophet.  The  Mohanunedan 
slave  was  rarely  abused  or  persecuted.  His  acceptance 
of  the  faith  of  Islam  rendered  his  manumission  easy. 
No  stigma  attached  to  his  condition.  He  could  aspire 
to  the  most  noble  matrimonial  alliance.  He  was 
eligible  to  the  most  important  })olLtical  employments. 
While  his  master  was  entitled  to  exercise  despotic 
authority  over  him,  the  patriarchal  customs  of  the 
Orient  discouraged  all  exhibitions  of  unmerited 
severity,  and  designated  the  slave  rather  as  a  com- 
panion than  a  dependent  in  the  household.  It  was 
contrary  to  law  to  put  him  in  chains.  His  personality 
was  never  sacrificed  to  the  convenience  of  trade;  his 
classification  as  a  chattel  would  have  been  abhorrent 
to  all  Mussulman  ideas  of  justice  and  htmianity ;  and 
in  this  respect  the  laws  of  the  Koran  are  immeasurably 
superior  to  the  provisions  of  Roman  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  jurisprudence.  An  obligation,  whose  force  the 
lapse  of  time  could  never  diminish,  was  imposed  upon 
the  descendants  of  a  f  reedman  to  assist  and  protect 
at  the  risk  of  their  lives  all  members  of  the  family 
which  had  liberated  their  ancestor  from  bondage. 
The  dignity  of  human  nature  was  never  outraged 
by  the  infliction  of  torture  upon  those  whom  fate  had 
condenmed  to  a  state  of  helpless  subjection;  on 
the  contrary,  the  slave  was  usually  educated  by  his 


MooBiSH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  661 

master;  he  became  his  secretary,  his  agent,  his  comi- 
sellor;  he  superintended  the  affairs  of  his  family;  he 
executed  with  diligence  and  fidelity  important  com- 
missions in  distant  lands. 

The  cheapness  of  slaves  indicates  their  abundance; 
their  price  was  within  reach  of  the  himiblest  laborer. 
After  the  battle  of  Zallaca,  an  ordinary  captive  could 
be  obtained  for  a  dirhem.  Many  inmates  of  the 
harems  came  from  the  East  Circassian  and  Georgian 
girls,  purchased  in  the  markets  of  Constantinople, 
were  imported  into  Spain  as'  early  as  the  ninth  cen- 
tury. In  Mussulman  law  a  distinction  existed  be- 
tween slaves  bought  for  service  and  prisoners  taken 
in  battle.  The  latter  shared  few  of  the  privileges  of 
the  ordinary  bondman,  and,  strictly  speaking,  could 
never  be  liberated  or  ransomed. 

The  amusements  of  the  Spanish  Arabs  were  de- 
rived from  the  East.  There  was  nothing  in  Roman 
tradition  or  Visigothic  inheritance  which  appealed  to 
their  imagination  like  the  diversions  of  the  idle  and 
sensuous  races  that  inhabited  the  tropics,  and  which, 
with  other  congenial  customs,  they  had  appropriated. 
They  felt  but  a  languid  interest  in  the  chase  of  fero- 
cious beasts.  They  shrank  with  horror  from  the  gladi- 
atorial contests  of  the  arena  and  their  scenes  of  blood 
and  butchery.  Exhibitions  of  strength,  where  mus- 
cular superiority  carried  off  the  palm,  were  scarcely 
less  distasteful  to  a  people  accustomed  to  rely  for  suc- 
cess on  fertility  of  resource  and  personal  agility. 
While  active  exercise  was  not  neglected,  those  pas- 
times were  in  highest  favor  which  required  the  least 
physical  exertion.  Among  these,  the  principal  one 
was  the  game  of  chess.  Of  unknown  but  high  an- 
tiquity, it  had  been  brought  by  Arabic  merchants  from 
India.  In  that  country  it  had  long  been  used  as  an 
instrument  of  divination,  and,  in  time  of  war,  the 
movements  of  its  pieces  frequently  directed  the  evo- 


602  HmOEY  OF  THE 

lutions  of  armies  on  the  march  and  in  battie.  A  part 
of  the  sacred  furniture  of  every  Hindu  temple,  the 
board  had  also  a  cabalistic  and  astrological  signifi- 
cance. Long  before  the  appearance  of  Mohammed, 
this  game  was  the  solace  of  the  vagrant  sheiks  of  the 
Desert  and  the  delight  of  the  wealthy  traders  of 
Yemen.  It  followed  everywhere  in  the  train  of  the 
Moslem  armies.  In  Spain  it  was  tmiversally  popular. 
The  chessmen  of  the  khalif s  were  not  inferior  in  rich- 
ness to  the  other  accessories  of  royal  luxury,— the 
arms,  the  plate,  the  furniture  of  the  palace.  Some 
were  made  of  the  precious  metals;  others  were  curi- 
ously carved  of  ivory;  most  of  them  were  incrusted 
with  gems.  The  boards  were  of  ebony  and  sandal- 
wood inlaid  with  gold.  In  this  instance,  also,  as  in 
many  others,  the  prohibition  of  the  Koran  relating 
to  the  representation  of  animal  forms  was  disregarded. 
The  Spanish  Moslems  were  passionately  fond  of 
chess.  It  became  one  of  the  favorite  diversions  of 
the  court;  and  it  was  no  unusual  occurrence  for 
players  to  pass  the  entire  day  engrossed  by  its  fasci- 
nations and  entirely  oblivious  of  their  smroundings. 
The  story,  already  related,  of  the  prince  who  pleaded 
for  time  to  finish  his  game  after  his  death-warrant  had 
been  read  to  him,  is  an  example  of  the  absorbing  in- 
terest excited  by  this  scientific  pastime  in  the  mind  of 
the  Moor.  Cards  were  known  to  the  Arabs  long  be- 
fore the  Hegira.  Naipe,  the  Spanish  name  for  them, 
is  from  the  Arabic  word  naib,  "viceroy,"  whence 
comes  the  English  "  nabob."  Introduced  into  Italy 
by  the  Saracens,  they  were  at  first  called  The  Game 
of  the  Kings.  They  were  not  generally  used  in  Eu- 
rope imtil  the  latter  part  of  the  f  oiurteenth  century. 
Backgammon  and  draughts  were  also  familiar  to  the 
Moors  of  Spain.  The  genius  of  Mohammed  recog- 
nized the  hidden  danger  which  beset  his  followers 
when  he  forbade  indulgence  in  all  games  of  diance. 


MoosisH  Empire  in  Eubope  668 

To  such  a  temptation  the  ardent  and  romantic  nature 
of  the  Oriental  is  peculiarly  susceptible.  No  infor- 
mation, in  this  respect,  *is  now  obtainable  concerning 
the  Mohammedan  population  of  the  Peninsula,  but 
the  copious  accounts  of  the  prevalence  of  other  vices 
under  the  domination  of  the  emirs  and  the  khalifs 
would  seem  to  indicate,  from  the  general  silence  on 
this  point,  that  gaming  was  not  commonly  practised. 

The  feats  of  jugglers  were  a  source  of  poptdar 
amusement  in  mediaeval  Cordova.  These  mounte- 
banks were  intimately  associated  with  itinerant  min- 
strels and  extemporaneous  rhymers,  whose  coarse 
effusions,  while  they  could  scarcely  be  dignified  by 
the  name  of  poetry,  yet  often  contributed  to  the  diver- 
sion of  the  cotui;,  and  whose  calling  and  example  pro- 
duced the  troubadour,  such  an  important  agent  in  the 
civilization  of  Europe.  The  lascivious  contortions  of 
the  dancers  of  ancient  Gades,  immortalized  in  the  epi- 
grams of  Martial,  and  whidi  have  been  transmitted 
with  probably  trifling  changes  through  the  Phoenician, 
Carthaginian,  Roman,  Gothic,  and  Mussulman  domi- 
nations to  the  Spanish  gypsies  of  otu*  day,  were  con- 
stantly exhibited,  in  all  their  suggestive  indecency, 
before  the  appreciative  audiences  of  Moorish  Spain. 
Nothing  can  indicate  more  positively  the  general  re- 
laxation of  manners  than  the  popularity  of  such  an 
amusement.  Even  the  indulgent^and  profligate  spirit 
of  Roman  society  eyed  it  with  marked  disfavor.  The 
poets  lampooned  those  who  patronized  or  encouraged 
it.  Moralists  and  legislators  condemned  it  as  a  pro- 
lific source  of  corruption.  Mohanuned  forbade  it  to 
his  followers  as  a  relic  of  Paganism  and  an  incentive 
to  immorality.  Under  no  circumstances  did  men 
participate  in  it,  or,  indeed,  in  any  of  the  terpsi- 
chorean  exercises  practised  by  Orientals.  The  dance, 
as  we  understand  it,  was  unknown  to  the  Moslems. 
Among  them  the  practice  was  abandoned  to  female 


604  History  of  the 

professionals,  who  constituted  a  caste,  who  were  dis- 
tinguished by  a  peculiar  costume,  and  whose  calling 
was  infamous.  This  prejudice,  descended  from  a  re- 
mote antiquity,  exists  in  full  force  in  all  Eastern 
countries  to-day.  The  degradation  of  Herodias  was 
far  more  reprobated  by  the  Hebrews  than  her  inhu- 
manity. The  character  of  the  bayadere  of  India,  of 
the  ghawazee  of  Egypt,  of  the  Jewess  of  Tunis,  of 
the  gypsy  of  Spain,  inheritors  of  the  lewd  PhcBnician 
positions  and  gestures,  is  familiar  to  all  travellers. 

In  the  dances  of  Mohammedan  Spain,  as  in  those 
still  practised  at  Cairo,  the  lower  limbs  were  station- 
ary, and  all  movements  were  performed  with  the  body 
and  the  arms.  Their  impropriety  generally  consisted 
rather  in  their  suggestiveness  than  in  any  flagrant 
personal  exposure.  Rarely  were  they  performed  in 
a  condition  of  nudity;  as  a  rule,  the  form  was  com- 
pletely enveloped  in  graceful  folds  of  silk  and  linen. 
The  dancers  kept  time  with  castanets,  which  were 
originally  small  copper  cymbals,  and  every  motion 
was  made  in  perfect  cadence  with  the  music.  The 
extraordinary  effect  of  these  exhibitions  upon  the 
imagination,  even  when  represented  by  women  not 
adepts  in  the  art,  can  be  understood  only  by  Uiose  who 
have  witnessed  tihem. 

.  The  taste  for  improvisation  pervaded  the  music  of 
the  Hispano-Arabs  «s  it  did  their  poetry.  Although 
to  foreign  ears  it  might  appear  wholly  destitute  of 
measure  and  harmony,  the  monotonous  execution  of 
the  performer  impressed  the  feelings  of  his  audience 
to  an  extent  incomprehensible  to  nations  of  northern 
blood.  The  profoundly  emotional  nature  of  the 
Moor,  readily  susceptible  to  every  kind  of  mental 
excitement  and  passionately  devoted  to  rhyme,  at  one 
time  roused  him  to  frenzy,  at  another  deprived  him 
of  consciousness.  No  race  has  ever  enjoyed  to  an 
equal  degree  with  the  Arabs  the  faculty  of  investing 


MooKiBH  Empibe  in  Eubofe  665 

fiction  with  the  semblance  of  truth,  of  transforming 
images  created  by  an  inexhaustible  fancy  into  the 
realities  of  life,  of  giving 

— "  to  airy  nothing 
A  local  habitation  and  a  name." 

The  music  of  the  khalifate  was  largely  derived 
from  Greek  and  Roman  sources.  Its  peculiarities,  in- 
herited by  the  Spaniards,  have  imparted  a  national 
character  to  their  minstrelsy,  as  well  as  measures  un- 
known to  the  other  nations  of  Europe.  It  had  noth- 
ing in  common  with  our  ideas  of  harmony.  It  con- 
sisted principally  of  monotonous  chants,  whose  time 
was  marked  by  rude  instruments  of  percussion ;  whose 
melody  was  partly  classic,  partly  barbaric;  and  which 
disclosed  none  of  that  novelty  and  variety  which  con- 
stitute the  greatest  charm  of  modern  music.  The 
Spanish  Arabs  had  no  theory,  used  no  notes,  and  pos- 
sessed no  means  of  preserving  musical  compositions 
except  by  memory  and  oral  tradition.  Under  these 
disadvantages,  improvement  in  one  of  the  most 
pleasing  of  sciences  was  impossible,  and  most  pieces 
rarely  survived  their  tX)mposers.  The  musical  instru- 
ments of  fhe  Spanish  Moslems  were  of  many  kinds; 
there  were  thirteen  diif  erent  varieties — ^among  them 
viols,  lutes,  dulcimers,  harps — ^made  in  Seville,  which 
was  the  most  celebrated  seat  of  their  manufacture  in 
the  world.  The  great  Ziryab,  who  lived  at  the  court 
of  Abd-al-Kahman  II.,  added  a  fifth  string  to  the 
lute,  to  which,  as  to  the  others,  the  Moors  attached  a 
symbolic  significance.  The  remaining  strings,  which 
were  of  difi^erent  colors,  represented  the  supposed 
four  htmiors  of  the  human  body;  that  of  Ziryab  was 
presumed  to  represent  the  soul.  The  school  of  music 
which  he  founded  at  Cordova  endured  until  the  last 
days  of  the  khalifate,  to  which  is  no  doubt  due  the  fact 


666  History  of  ths 

that  the  writers  of  Spain  on  this  subject  are  the  most 
numerous  and  prolific  of  any  age. 

The  antipathy  with  which  this  science  was  regarded 
by  theologians  did  not  prevent  it  from  being  the  de- 
light of  the  prince  and  an  indispensable  diversion  of 
the  people.  Its  power  was  so  great  that  it  early  in- 
vaded the  shrines  of  the  religion  that  condemn^  it, 
and  for  centuries  the  verses  of  the  Koran  have  been 
intoned  in  the  mosques.  The  story-teller  recited  his 
tales  to  music;  the  itinerant  buffoon  interspersed  his 
coarse  but  expressive  pantomime  with  rhyming  jests 
and  ribald  songs.  The  Arab  notes  are  harsh,  nasal, 
and  guttiu-al,  unpleasant  beyond  measure  to  Euro- 
pean ears.  Their  scale  includes  seventeen  intervals  in 
the  octave,  and  it  is  said  by  learned  authority  on  the 
subject  that  the  Italian,  from  which  ours  is  derived, 
was  originally  copied,  without  alteration,  from  that 
of  the  Arabs  of  Sicily  and  Spain. 

The  Moors  thoroughly  understood  the  almost  magi- 
cal effects  which  follow  the  judicious  employment  of 
music.  Not  only  was  it  indispensable  on  aJl  festive 
occasions,  but  its  notes  brought  consolation  and  com- 
fort to  the  house  of  bereavement.  It  was  considered 
an' important  remedial  agent  in  disease.  It  was  used 
to  correct  the  distressing  condition  of  insonmia.  In 
the  hospitals  of  great  cities  bands  were  constantly  en- 
tertained, because  it  was  well  known  that  harmony 
of  sound  promoted  convalescence.  Its  aphrodisiacal 
qualities  were  appreciated  and  utilized  to  fuUy  as 
great  an  extent  as  those  of  perfiraies, — ^the  delight  of 
the  Oriental.  It  was  a  favorite  maxim  of  the  Mussul- 
man doctors  that ''  to  hear  music  is  to  sin  against  the 
law;  to  make  music  is  to  sin  against  religion;  to  take 
pleasure  in  it  is  to  be  guilty  of  infidelity."  Notwith- 
standing this,  and  the  fact  that  it  was  anathematized 
by  Mohammed,  no  people  were  more  fond  of  it  than 
the  Arabs;    and  the  professional  musician,  whose 


MooBiSH  Empire  in  Eukofe  667 

talents  had  raised  him  above  mediocrity,  was  sure  of 
distinguished  attention  at  the  court  of  the  khalifs; 
and,  once  become  famous,  he  was  the  recipient  of 
honors  ekewhere  reserved  for  the  descendants  and  the 
representatives  of  royalty.  It  was  not  unusual  for  a 
master,  of  his  art  to  receive  ten  thousand  pieces  of 
gold  for  a  single  performance.  Instruments  of  per- 
cussion, and  especially  drums  and  tambourines,  were 
most  employed  by  the  Spanish  Moslems,  but  their 
constructive  genius  produced  radical  changes  in 
others;  they  improved  the  guitar,  the  flute,  and  the 
clarionet;  they  were  the  inventors  of  the  mandolin 
and  the  organ. 

In  equestrian  sports,  which  required  the  highest 
degree  of  adroitness  and  agility,  the  Moors  of  Spain 
had  no  superiors.  First  among  their  pastimes  of  this 
description  was  the  bull-fight,  which  had  little  in  com- 
mon with  the  modem  spectacle,  whose  revolting  char- 
acteristics are  the  result  of  long-continued  sanguinary 
and  brutalizing  influences.  The  performers  were  all 
of  noble  birth;  they  were  splendidly  moimted;  their 
equipments  were  of  the  most  sumptuous  description. 
No  weapon  was.allowed  them  but  a  short,  heavy  jave- 
lin, whose  point  was  partly  encased  in  leather.  The 
rules  of  the  sport  required  that  the  animal  be  killed  by 
a  thrust  along  the  spine  in  front  of  the  shoulder,  to 
deliver  which  properly  demanded  great  skill  and 
almost  superhimian  strength.  If  a  blow  yas  landed 
elsewhere,  the  knight  was  compelled  to  retire  from 
the  arena;  if  his  weapon  was  broken  or  lost,  he  was 
adjudged  to  have  sustained  an  irretrievable  disgrace. 
The  intelligence  and  training  of  the  horse  and  the 
dexterity  of  the  rider  were  ordinarily  sufiicient  guar- 
*antees  against  disaster;  but  the  occasional  sacrifice 
of  a  cavalier  reminded  the  survivors  of  the  fearful 
dangers  of  the  encoimter.  Trained  from  early  child- 
hood to  the  use  of  the  horse  and  the  javelin,  accus- 


668  History  of  the 

tomed  to  every  manly  exercise,  adepts  in  the  arts  of 
the  tourney  and  the  chase,  the  Spanish  Moslems  found 
in  the  bull-fight  the  climax  of  enjoyment,  second  only 
to  the  martial  pleasures  and  excitements  of  war.  With 
such  an  education,  it  is  not  strange  that  they  were 
recognized  as  the  finest  light  cavalry  in  Europe. 

Of  equal  interest,  and  of  even  greater  magnificence, 
was  the  spectacle  presented  by  the  tilt  of  reeds.  In 
its  exhibition  and  accessories  were  displayed  the  inex- 
haustible profusion  and  opulence  of  Moorish  luxury. 
The  scene  was  laid  in  one  of  the  many  squares  of  the 
vast  Moslem  capital.  A  series  of  arcades  and  gal- 
leries, supported  by  columns  of  colored  marble,  bril- 
liant with  mosaics  and  gilded  stuccoes,  were  crowded 
with  an  enthusiastic  audience  representing  the. noblest 
families  of  the  court  and  the  wealth  and  fashion  of 
the  principal  dty  of  the  empire.  The  Khalif  was  there, 
surrounded  by  his  body-guard,  gigantic  blacks  from 
the  Atlas  and  the  Soudan,  with  gem-studded  weapons 
and  armor  damascened  with  gold.  The  balustrades  of 
the  galleries  were  hung  with  scarlet,  emerald,  and  sky- 
blue  velvet.  The  inmates  of  the  harems,  models  of 
the  voluptuous  type  of  Andalusian  beauty,  unveiled, 
revealed  their  smiling  features  to  the  public  gaze, — a 
sight  to  be  witnessed  in  no  other  quarter  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan world.  Their  silken  cloaks  striped  with 
every  color  of  the  rainbow;  their  strings  of  superb 
jewels,  whose  collection  was  an  absorbing  passion  with 
every  Moorish  woman  of  rank;  the  golden  belts  and 
bracelets  gleaming  in  the  sunlight;  the  personal 
charms  of  their  owners,  enhanced  to  the  utmost  by 
every  resource  of  attire  and  adornment,  presented  a 
splendid  and  enchanting  picture  unsurpassed  in  either 
classic  or  mediaeval  times.  In  the  audience,  sometimes 
by  courtesy  among  the  cavaliers  in  the  arena  were  to 
be  seen  Castilian  knights  exiled  for  political  reasons, 
or  competitors  for  distinction  in  the  national  sports 


MooEiSH  Emfibe  in  Eusope  669 

of  their  hereditary  foes.  The  parapets  and  terraces 
which  commanded  the  amphitheatre,  the  arches  of  the 
aqueducts,  the  minarets,  the  trees,  even  the  spurs  of 
the  distant  sierra,  were  white  with  the  robes  and  tur- 
bans of  the  populace,  attracted  by  the  novelty  and 
magnificence  of  the  scene.  The  performers,  in  whom 
all  interest  centred,  were  worthy  of  the  attention  they 
excited.  Twenty-four  in  number,  they  included  the 
flower  of  the  Moorish  warriors  selected  from  two  of 
the  principal  tribes  composing  the  aristocracy  of  the 
Peninsula.  All  were  clad  in  flexible  coats  of  mail 
covered  with  tunics  of  blue  or  crimson  velvet  sowed 
with  stars  of  gold.  Their  heads  were  protected  by 
silken  turbans;  their  waists  were  encircled  by  sashes 
of  the  same  material;  upon  the  small  buckles  worn 
by  each  horseman  were  emblazoned  his  motto  and 
family  crest,  from  which  custom  Christian  chivalry 
borrowed  its  heraldic  devices  and  its  coats  of  arms. 
The  horses  of  one  division  were  white,  those  of  the 
other  black;  they  were  almost  concealed  by  embroid- 
ered housings;  the  bridles  were  enriched  with  jewels, 
the  bits  were  of  massy  gold.  A  short  lance,  whose 
point  was  blunted,  was  the  sole  arm  upon  which  the 
cavalier  was  permitted  to  rely  for  attack  or  protec- 
tion; to  it  were  attached  the  colors  of  his  mistress, — 
sometimes  represented  by  a  knot  of  ribbons,  but  more 
frequently  by  a  scarf  of  silken  tissue,  upon  which  she 
had  traced  in  golden  embroidery  the  characters  of 
some  amorous  legend.  In  the  fantastic  devices  of 
Oriental  imagery,  which  originated  in  the  voluptuous 
regions  where  love  is  an  art,  each  color,  each  gestiu^e, 
even  the  most  prosaic  of  objects,  is  invested  with  more 
than  a  passing  significance. 

These  equestrian  diversions  of  the  Spanish  Mos- 
lems, imlike  the  tournaments  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
which  were  derived  from  them,  were  never  polluted 
by  the  wanton  shedding  of  blood.    They  represented 


670  HiSTOBY  OF  THE 

all  the  exciting  phases  of  battle, — ^the  attack,  the 
melee,  the  retreat.  In  the  confusing  movements  of 
each  encomiter  every  facility  was  afforded  for  the  ex- 
hibition of  the  highest  degree  of  strength,  activity, 
and  skill.  Their  object  was  not  the  disabling  of  an 
antagonist,  but  the  seizure  and  retention  of  the  deco- 
rations which  adorned  both  horse  and  rider;  and  in 
the  evolutions  performed  for  the  accomplishment  of 
these  ends  the  most  daring  feats  of  horsemanship  were 
exhibited.  The  course  of  the  rings  terminated  the 
brilliant  festival.  Among  the  branches  of  a  tree, 
planted  at  one  extremity  of  the  arena,  were  suspended 
a  number  of  rings  of  gold.  One  after  another  the 
competitors  for  knightly  honors,  moving  at  the  great- 
est speed,  endeavored  to  bear  away  these  trophies  of 
adroitness  upon  the  point  of  the  slender  reed  which 
served  the  purpose  of  a  lance.  A  magnificent  prize, 
usually  a  golden  vase  enriched  with  jewels,  was 
awarded  the  victor,  who  in  turn  was  expected  to  pre- 
sent it  to  the  lady  whose  colors  he  had  worn  in  the 
contest.  The  talents  of  the  most  famous  poets  of  ihe 
khalifate  were  exercised  in  the  celebration  of  these 
splendid  spectacles,  wonderful  exhibitions  of  human 
dexterity,  whose  attractiveness  was  not  marred  by 
suffering,  and  which  revealed  to  the  greatest  advan- 
tage the  chivalrous  sentiments  and  martial  ardor  of 
a  refined  and  polished  race. 

Nor  were  these  the  only  sports  which  occupied  the 
leisure  of  the  elegant  society  of  the  Moslem  court 
Its  members  rarely  participated  in  the  chase.  Hawk- 
ing, introduced  by  Abd-al-Rahman  I.,  was,  however, 
a  favorite  diversion  with  them;  their  hawks  were  the 
finest  and  best  trained  in  Europe,  and  they  constituted 
an  important  article  of  commerce,  especially  with 
Italy,  France,  and  England.  In  the  extensive  gar- 
dens of  Granada  and  Palermo  were  artificial  lakes, 
where  naval  spectacles  were  frequently  given  upon 


MooBiSH  Emfibe  in  Eubope  671 

a  much  larger  scale  than  in  the  amphitheatre  of  Titus 
during  the  pahny  days  of  Imperial  Rome. 

Under  a  government  whose  beneficent  policy  pro- 
vided work  for  the  industrious  and  shelter  for  the 
helpless,  it  may  well  be  supposed  that  mendicancy  was 
neither  an  honorable  nor  a  lucrative  profession.  The 
horrible  exhibitions  of  real  or  simulated  deformity 
which  in  Southern  Europe  now  shock  the  eyes  of  the 
traveller  were  not  tolerated  under  the  Moslem  domi- 
nation. While  the  bestowal  of  alms  is  a  cardinal 
principle  of  the  Mohammedan  religion,  its  objects, 
when  worthy,  were  not  permitted  to  openly  solicit  the 
aid  of  the  generous  and  sympathetic  passer-by.  The 
su£rering  and  the  crippled  were  carried  to  hospitals, 
where  every  means  was  applied  to  effect  their  restora- 
tion to  health ;  while  the  impostor,  seized  by  the  police, 
expiated  in  prison  or  under  the  scourge  the  penalty 
of  his  idleness  and  fraud.  Conducted  on  a  plan  of 
boundless  charity,  no  factitious  impediments  of  race 
or  religion  interposed  to  exclude  from  the  public  in- 
stitutions those  unfortunates  whose  physical  afflic- 
tions claimed  the  indulgence  or  the  generous  solicitude 
of  mankind.  Hospitals  were  open  to  the  worthy  ap- 
plicant, and  the  Jew,  the  Christian,  even  the  idolater, 
received  within  their  walls  the  same  assiduous  care  be- 
stowed upon  the  most  orthodox  Moslem. 

In  all  its  tendencies  the  spirit  of  Moorish  civiliza- 
tion was  eminently  practicd.  Even  its  speculative 
labors  were  rather  serious  than  sportive, — ^the  occa- 
sional relaxations  of  arduous  and  prolonged  mental 
effort.  Its  grand  aims  were  the  security  of  the  indi- 
vidual, the  dispensation  of  impartial  justice,  the  sys- 
tematic development  of  the  noblest  faculties  of  the 
human  intellect,  the  amalgamation  of  the  heterogene- 
ous constituents  of  a  proud  and  turbulent  society,  the 
progressive  improvement  and  durable  prosperity  of  a 
vast  and  populous,  but  constantly  disintegrating,  em- 


672  HiSTOBT  OF  THE 

pire.  In  the  accomplishment  of  these  ends,  war,  while 
presumed  to  be  an  object,  was  in  reality  but  an  in- 
strument. Public  policy  required  the  occupation  of 
the  streams  of  restless  barbarians  and  needy  adven- 
turers incessantly  pouring  into  the  Peninsula.  For 
their  employment  in  foreign  campaigns,  the  Koranic 
injunction  of  perpetual  hostility  offered  a  plausible 
and  convenient  excuse.  This  practice,  while  appeal- 
ing at  once  to  the  religious  enthusiasm  of  the  fanatic 
and  the  cupidity  of  the  warrior,  insured  the  succession 
of  the  dynasty  and  the  permanence  of  the  throne. 
Without  its  aid  even  the  administration  of  Al-Mansur, 
directed  by  the  consummate  ability  of  that  leader, 
must  speedily  have  fallen.  It  required  semi-annual 
campaigns,  followed  by  an  unbroken  succession  of 
victories,  to  restrain  the  native  insubordination  of  the 
African  immigrants,  whose  multitudes,  constantly 
recruited  from  the  innumerable  tribes  of  Mauritania, 
constituted  not  only  the  bulk  of  the  army,  but  the 
predominant  element  of  the  population. 

This  mingling  of  races  and  the  resultant  prevalence 
of  crosses,  combined  with  the  influence  of  climate  and 
the  stimulants  of  military  and  commercial  activity, 
will  readily  account  for  the  versatility  of  the  Hisjpano- 
Arab  mind,  which  was  among  its  most  prominent 
characteristics.  No  greater  contrast  in  comparative 
ethnology  can  be  drawn  than  that  presented  by  the 
precarious  and  barbaric  existence  of  the  Desert  and 
the  polished  and  highly  cultivated  life  of  the  Western 
Khalifate  in  its  most  glorious  days.  And  yet  but  a 
comparatively  insignificant  period  of  time  separates 
the  vagrant  Bedouin,  whose  favorite  occupation  was 
the  plunder  of  his  neighbors  and  who  resented  the  in- 
terference of  even  his  acknowledged  chieftain  as  an 
infringement  of  his  liberties,  and  the  Spanish  Arab, 
whose  despotic  government  insured  the  enjoyment  of 
personal  freedom  and  public  tranquillity,  where  intel- 


Moorish  Empibx  in  Eusofe  678 

ligence,  order,  prosperity,  took  the  place  of  insubordi* 
nation  and  discord,  and  the  prestige  of  foreign  con* 
quest  and  the  blessings  of  civilization  travelled  in 
parallel  lines  and  side  by  side.  To  the  development 
of  that  civilization  every  people  became  tributary,  co- 
incident with  its  subjection  to  the  Moslem  arms.  In 
the  character  of  the  conqueror  was  revealed  a  spirit 
of  acquisition  in  no  wise  inferior  to  its  inventive  fac- 
ulty, and  which  at  once  appropriated,  and  often  im- 
proved, all  that  was  useful  in  the  systems  of  others 
while  forming  and  developing  new  ideas  of  its  own. 

It  is  with  mingled  sentiments  of  admiration  and 
regret  that  we  contemplate  the  phenomenal  rise,  the 
dazzling  splendor,  the  rapid  fall,  of  the  Moslem  em- 
pire in  Spain.  The  material  relics  which  remain  to 
tell  the  story  of  its  architectural  grandeur,  of  the 
munificence  of  its  sovereigns,  of  the  acquirements  of 
its  scholars,  of  the  skill  of  its  artisans,  are  few  and 
widely  scattered.  The  destruction  has  been  most 
complete.  The  supremacy  of  Christian  ideas  and 
Castilian  customs,  enforced  by  diligent  persecution, 
was  in  all  instances  necessary  before  the  intellectual 
aspirations  fostered  during  nine  generations  of  au- 
gust and  learned  princes  could  be  subordinated  to 
the  sacerdotal  ignorance  and  military  ferocity  of  the 
age.  Some  edifices  defaced  by  malice  or  neglect, 
their  apartments  so  altered  by  barbarous  innovators 
that  their  original  plans  and  the  purposes  of  their 
construction  can  often  no  longer  be  traced  or  even 
conjectured;  their  delicate  ornamentation  concealed 
by  many  successive  layers  of  lime  and  plaster;  their 
precincts  abandoned  to  the  vilest  uses;  a  meagre 
collection  of  manuscripts,  whose  characters  are  half 
obliterated  by  moisture  and  rough  usage;  an  occa- 
sional trophy  rusting  in  the  solitude  of  the  museum, 
are  all  the  tangible  evidences  extant  of  a  monarchy 
once  the  marvel  of  Europe.    It  is  elsewhere  that  we 

Vol.  III.-48 


674  HiBIOBY  OF  THE 

must  look  for  the  proofs  of  its  greatness  and  the 
trophies  of  its  glory.  Its  salutary  influence  in  modi- 
fying the  debased  instincts  and  savage  manners  of 
medieval  society  is  no  longer  questioned.  The  en- 
during impulse  it  imparted  to  philosophical  investi- 
gation, its  prosecution  of  the  exact  sciences,  the 
consideration  in  which  it  held  intellectual  ability,  the 
honors  with  which  it  rewarded  proficiency  in  litera- 
ture, transmitted  through  many  generations,  have 
placed  their  seal  upon  the  civilization  of  tiie  twentieth 
century.  The  obligations  we  are  under  to  the  Span- 
ish Arabs  cannot  be  too  frequently  nor  too  generally 
acknowledged;  and  in  ascribing  the  origin  of  our 
progress  to  the  nation  whose  genius  was  its  inspiring 
spirit,  we  are  only  offering  a  just  and  well  deserved 
tribute  of  gratitude. 

It  was  said  by  Seneca,  "  Wherever  the  Roman  con- 
quers, he  inhabits.'"  It  might,  with  almost  equal 
truth,  be  asserted  of  the  Arab  that,  wherever  his  re- 
ligion and  his  language  are  once  established,  there  they 
will  forever  prevail.  The  countries  originally  sub- 
dued by  the  lieutenants  of  the  Prophet  are  still  Mo- 
hammedan. The  idiom  of  Mecca  is  still  spoken  from 
the  eastern  shore  of  the  Atlantic  to  the  China  Sea. 
Nor  does  Islam  seem  to  have  lost  its  power  of  ex- 
pansion. Its  progress  has  never  been  arrested.  It 
has  penetrated  to  Central  Russia, — ^in  that  empire  its 
votaries  nimiber  eleven  millions.  It  is  the  faith  of 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  Negroes  at  the  equator.  In 
Europe  there  are  seven  million  Mussulmans,  in  India 
fifty-three  million,  in  China  twenty-two  million.  The 
people  of  Sicily  and  Spain  alone  of  the  great  colonies 
founded  by  the  Moslem — ^the  seat  of  his  most  highly 
developed  civilization,  the  home  of  races  equally  ac- 
complished in  learning,  advanced  in  arts,  illustrious  in 
arms — ^were  compelled  to  go  into  exile  or  renounce 
their  faith  and  abandon  their  language.    In  neither 


Moorish  Empibe  in  Extrote  67ff 

of  these  countries  have  the  discoveries,  the  inventions, 
and  the  experience  of  six  centuries,  which  have  long 
been  the  common  property  of  all  nations,  exerted  any 
appreciable  effect  in  repairing  the  awful  damage  con- 
sequent on  Moorish  expulsion. 

The  propagators  of  a  form  of  religion  which  relies 
for  its  success  upon  the  extermination  of  all  who  re- 
fuse assent  to  its  dogmas  have  certainly  little  faith  in 
the  truth  or  the  celestial  inspiration  of  the  maxims 
which  they  deem  it  necessary  to  resort  to  force  to  in- 
culcate. During  the  ascendency  of  the  papal  power 
no  one  within  its  reach  could  publicly  profess  hereti- 
cal doctrines  and  live.  Under  the  Ommeyades  and 
the  Aghlabites  both  the  misbeliever  and  the  infidel 
were  safe  on  the  payment  of  tribute.  The  occasional 
outbursts  of  Moslem  fanaticism  were  directed  against 
literature;  the  spirit  of  Christian  persecution — ^a  spirit 
sadly  at  variance  with  that  evinced  by  the  gentleness 
and  meekness  of  its  Divine  Founder — ^raged  fiercely 
against  both  literature  and  humanity.  Amru  and  Al- 
Mansur  burned  books.  Innocent  III.  and  Calvin 
tortured  men. 

The  Assyrian,  Carthaginian,  Roman,  and  Hispano- 
Arab  empires  lasted  each  about  eight  hundred  years. 
Of  two  of  these  the  memory  alone  survives.  A  num- 
ber of  defaced  monuments,  a  fragmentary  literature, 
preserve  the  traditions  of  the  third.  The  genius  of 
the  Moslem,  superior  to  those  of  all  his  predecessors, 
has  perpetuated  itself  in  the  scientific  inspiration  and 
progressive  energy  of  every  succeeding  age.  Remark- 
able for  its  imparalleled  success,  while  hampered  by 
tremendous  obstacles, — ^war,  sedition,  disorder,  bar- 
barian supremacy, — ^it  is  instructive  to  reflect  what  it 
might  have  accomplished  imder  the  most  favorable 
auspices,  when  at  the  height  of  their  prosperity  the 
Moors  of  Europe  controlled  the  Mediterranean.  The 
latter  occupied  and  colonized  in  turn  the  important 


678  HmoST  OF  THK 

posts  of  Sardinia,  Corsica,  Cyprus,  Malta.  *  Thdr 
revenues  were  tenfold  greater  than  those  of  any  con- 
temporaneous  state.  The  inexhaustible  population  of 
Africa  could  be  constantly  drawn  on  for  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  soldiers,  whose  abstemious  lives,  blind 
fanaticism,  and  reckless  bravery  made  them  most  for- 
midable adversaries.  The  fleets  of  the  Sicilian  emirs 
threatened  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor.  The  Arab  gov- 
ernors of  Spain  established  permanent  outposts  as  far 
as  Lyons.  The  pirates  of  Fraxinet  fortified  and  held 
for  many  years  tiie  passes  of  the  Alps.  The  tracks  of 
the  Saracen  armies  marching  northward  from  Cala- 
bria and  southward  from  Provence  and  Switzerland 
overlapped  on  the  plains  of  Lombardy.  Such  oppor- 
tunities for  conquest  have  rarely  been  enjoyed  or 
neglected  by  any  military  power.  Civil  discord  and 
tribal  jealousy  were  all  that  prevented  Europe  from 
being  Mohammedanized.  In  the  polity  of  the  Arabs, 
wherever  domiciled,  the  traditions  of  the  Desert  in- 
variably prevailed.  The  organization  of  the  state  was 
modelled  after  those  of  the  family  and  the  tribe.  No 
allowance  was  made  for  the  changed  conditions  re- 
sultmg  from  the  extension  of  dominion  and  the  m- 
crease  of  knowledge.  Under  such  circumstances  there 
could  be  no  cohesion  among  the  parts  of  the  constantly 
tottering  fabric  of  Moslem  power,  which,  in  fact,  was 
undermined  from  the  very  beginning.  From  this  in- 
stability, the  Western  Khalifate  has  been,  witii  some 
truth,  compared  to  a  Bedouin  encampinent.  The  de- 
fects of  an  anomalous  constitution  were  aggravated 
by  intestine  conflict.  Factional  hostility  in  Arabian 
Spain  was  always  more  pronounced  and  bitter  than 
hatred  of  the  Christian  foe. 

A  great  victory  and  a  few  unimportant  skirmishtt 
gained  for  the  Moslems  in  less  than  two  years  control 
of  the  richest  kingdom  in  Europe.  To  reconquer  it 
required  eight  centuries  and  more  than  five  tfaousand 


MoosiBH  Emfise  m  Eubofe  077 

buttles.  The  followers  of  Pelayus,  when  the  long 
struggle  for  Christian  supremacy  began,  were  but 
thirty  in  number.  The  host  mustered  by  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  before  Granada  amounted  to  nearly  a 
hundred  thousand  men.  The  religious  character  which 
invested  the  Reconquest,  and  from  which  its  prosecu- 
tion eventually  became  inseparable,  has  stamped  itself 
indelibly  and  ruinously  upon  the  Spanish  people. 
The  cost  of  the  triumph  was  incalculable.  It  im- 
poverished forever  great  provinces.  It  drenched  the 
soil  of  the  entire  Peninsula  with  blood.  A  single 
campaign  often  destroyed  an  army.  The  casualties 
of  a  single  siege  sometimes  swept  away  numbers  equal 
to  the  inhabitants  of  a  populous  city.  At  Baza  alone, 
in  the  short  space  of  seven  months,  twenty-one  thou- 
sand Castilians  perished. 

The  almost  universal  disbelief  in  Moorish  civiliza- 
tion is  hardly  less  remarkable  than  its  creation  and 
progress.  Sectarian  prejudice,  ignorance  of  Arabic, 
and  a  fixed  determination  to  acknowledge  no  obliga- 
tion to  infidels  have  concurred  to  establish  and  con- 
firm the  popular  opinion.  To  this  end  the  Church  has 
always  lent  its  powerful,  often  omnipotent,  aid.  Yet, 
in  spite  of  systematic  suppression  of  facts  and  long- 
continued  misrepresentations,  it  cannot  now  be  denied 
that  no  race  efi^ected  so  much  for  all  that  concerns  the 
practical  welfare  of  mankind  as  the  Spanish  Moham- 
medans; that  no  race  of  kings  has  deserved  so  large 
a  measure  of  fame  as  that  which  traced  its  lineage  to 
Abd-al-Bahman  I. 

Such  was  the  civilization  which  the  Spanish  and 
Sicilian  Arabs  bequeathed  to  Eiu*ope.  Their  con- 
quests and  their  influence,  their  progress  in  the  arts 
of  peace,  their  industrial  and  economical  inventions, 
the  precocity  of  their  mental  development,  the  per- 
petuation of  their  advanced  ideas  under  the  most 
discouraging  conditions  which  can  be  conceived,  pre- 


678  History  of  the 

sent  an  example  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  na- 
tions^  Their  origin  had  nothing  in  common  with  that 
of  any  European  people.  Their  religion  was  avowedly 
inimical  to  the  one  which  was  professed  from  the 
Mediterranean  coast  to  the  verge  of  the  Arctic  Circle. 
Their  political  and  domestic  institutions  were  abhor- 
rent to  the  feelings  of  their  neighbors,  their  allies, 
their  enemies.  From  the  hour  when  Tarik  landed  at 
Gibraltar  to  that  when  Boabdil  surrendered  the  keys 
of  the  Alhambra  was  a  period  of  constant  and  relent- 
less hostility.  Such  circumstances  as  these  are  not 
ordinarily  propitious  to  the  material  or  intellectual 
advancement  of  mankind. 

In  the  face  of  such  formidable  obstacles  a  mighty 
empire  was  founded.  The  very  causes  which  seemed 
liable  to  seriously  affect  its  integrity  and  permanence 
in  reality  increased  its  strength.  Its  military  power 
became  a  standing  menace  to  every  state  of  Chris- 
tendom. Its  fleets  of  armed  galleys  dominated  the 
seas.  The  Saracens  of  Sicily  sacked  the  suburbs  of 
Rome  and  insulted  the  sacred  majesty  of  the  Holy 
Father  in  the  Vatican.  In  every  trade-centre  of  the 
East  and  West,  in  the  streets  of  Canton  and  Delhi, 
in  the  bazaars  of  Damascus,  along  the  crowded  quays 
of  Alexandria,  beside  the  scattered  wells  of  the  Sa- 
hara, at  the  great  fairs  of  Sweden,  Germany,  and 
Russia,  in  the  splendid  markets  of  Constantinople,  the 
Moorish  merchants  and  Hebrew  brokers  of  Spain  out- 
stripped all  commercial  competitors  in  the  amounts  of 
their  purchases  and  the  shrewdness  of  their  bargains. 
The  wealth  which  resulted  from  this  vast  system  of 
trade  was  almost  inconceivable.  In  addition,  the  agri- 
cultural and  mineral  resources  of  the  country,  great  in 
themselves,  were  developed  beyond  all  precedent.  The 
treasures  thus  amassed  were  expended  in  public  works, 
whose  neglected  ruins  amaze  the  traveller;  in  the  pro- 
motion of  educational  advantages  that  modem  experi- 


MooBiSH  Emfibe  in  Eukofs  679 

ence  and  energy  have  never  been  able  to.  surpass;  in 
the  coUection  of  immense  libraries;  in  the  mainten- 
ance of  a  court  with  whose  magnificence  the  tradi- 
tional luxury  of  the  Byzantine  princes  was  not  worthy 
of  comparison;  in  the  celebration  of  a  worship  whose 
f  umitiu'e  and  appointments  transcended,  in  richness 
and  beauty,  the  vaunted  pomp  and  semi-barbaric  cere- 
monial of  pontifical  Rome. 

It  is  both  popular  and  fashionable  to  ascribe  to  the 
influence  of  the  Crusades  the  awakening  of  the  spirit 
of  progress  which  ultimately  led  to  the  revival  of 
letters  and  to  the  political  and  social  regeneration  of 
Eiu-ope.  But  the  Crusades  were  only,  in  an  indirect 
and  secondary  manner,  a  factor  of  civilization.  On 
the  other  hand,  their  general  tendency  was  signally 
destructive.  Their  track  has  been  compared  to  that 
left  by  a  swarm  of  locusts.  Many  works  of  classic 
genius  perished  in  the  sack  of  Constantinople.  The 
Moslem  library  of  Tripoli,  which  contained  two  him- 
dred  thousand  volumes,  was  burned  when  that  city 
was  taken  by  the  soldiers  of  the  Cross.  It  is  a  well- 
established  fact  that  few  of  the  latter  were  actuated 
by  religious  motives.  Their  crimes  cast  discredit  upon 
their  cause  and  secured  the  eternal  contempt  of  the 
Oriental;  for  even  the  name  of  Christianity  was  un- 
worthily degraded  by  such  vile  associations.  The 
results  produced  upon  Europe  by  these  expeditions, 
instead  of  being  humanizing,  were  most  disastrous. 
Whole  districts  were  depopulated.  The  hereditary 
estates  of  the  nobility  were  transferred  to  the  Church, 
whose  ministers  alone  possessed  the  means  of  pur- 
chase, and  who,  through  promoting  the  insane  spirit 
of  fanaticism  by  which  they  subsequently  profited, 
secured  a  double  measure  of  consequence  and  power. 
The  Papacy  soon  controlled  the  wealth  of  Chris- 
tendom, and  its  irresponsible  authority  increased  in 
proportion  to  its  influence.     With  despotism  came 


880  HlflTOBY  OF  THE 

tjrranny,  with  tjnranny  persecution.  The  principle  of 
forcing  the  acceptance  of  religious  dogmas  upon 
armed  enemies  was  extended  to  the  conviction  of 
recalcitrant  sectaries  by  torture.  The  atrocities  of 
religious  conflict,  the  war  of  the  Albigenses,  the  un- 
speakable horrors  of  the  Inquisition,  the  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  are  largely  attributable  to  the  san- 
guinary tastes  engendered  by  the  Crusades.  In  other 
respects,  as  well,  their  influence  was  highly  detrimen- 
tal to  humanity.  They  introduced  vices  hitherto  con- 
fined to  the  East,  and  which  are  to  this  day  blots  upon 
the  society  of  the  great  European  capitals.  They 
filled  Europe  with  leprosy  or  with  an  afi^ection  simi- 
lar to  it,  from  which  eminent  medical  authorities  have 
deduced  the  origin  of  the  most  obstinate  and  loath- 
some of  contagious  diseases.  They  introduced  the 
plague,  one  visitation  of  which  swept  away  thirteen 
million  persons.  The  rupture  of  family  ties  occa- 
sioned by  the  absence  of  such  multitudes  fostered 
every  form  of  licentiousness.  In  some  provinces  vast 
tracts  of*  fertile  soil,  soon  overgrown  with  brushwood, 
relapsed  into  primeval  wildness.  In  others,  deprived 
of  the  means  of  preserving  order,  the  country  became 
a  prey  to  outlaws.  While  tens  of  thousands  of  armed 
fanatics  were  fighting  for  the  Christian  cause  in  Syria, 
the  barbarians  of  Northern  Europe  were  worshipping 
idols  and  serpents  and  offering  human  sacrifices. 

The  Crusades,  however,  were  not  wholly  an  un- 
mixed evil.  They  increased  the  power  of  the  clergy, 
but  they  exterminated  a  large  part  of  the  most  worth- 
less elements  of  society.  It  has  been  estimated  that 
six  million  persons  perished  in  these  expeditions. 
They  made  the  Papacy  autocratic;  but,  by  destroying 
feudalism  through  the  alienation  of  the  estates  of  the 
barons,  they  greatly  improved  the  condition  of  the 
serf.  The  necessity  for  treating  victims  of  the  hor- 
rible maladies  contracted  in  Palestine  led  to  the  f  oun- 


Moorish  Emfibe  in  Eubofe  681 

dation  of  the  first  hospitals  in  Christendom.  They 
directed  the  attention  of  scholars  to  the  study  of  works 
in  Arabic,  a  language  hitherto  unknown  outside  of 
Mussulman  coimtries.  It  was  in  1142  that  Peter  the 
Venerable,  Abbot  of  Cluny,  went  to  Toledo  and  made 
a  translation  of  the  Koran  into  Latin,  in  order  that 
he  might  demonstrate  the  falsity  of  the  doctrines  of 
Islamism.  Had  these  successive  deluges  of  fanatics 
been  poured  upon  the  Spanish  Peninsula  instead  of 
upon  the  Holy  Land,  not  the  slightest  trace  of  Mos- 
lem learning  and  civilization  could  have  survived 
their  attack. 

The  benefits  arising  from  the  Crusades  were  far 
from  sufficient  to  coimterbalance  their  injurious 
effects.  They  gave,  however,  a  great  impetus  to 
commerce,  especially  through  the  enterprise  of  the 
Italian  republics.  They  awakened  a  taste  for  luxuries 
which  had  been  hitherto  unknown,  even  to  royalty. 
They  stimulated  manufactures,  particularly  those 
connected  with  the  ornamental  arts  of  glass,  wood, 
ivory,  and  metals.  In  one  respect,  their  influence  pro- 
moted immensely  the  cause  of  civilization.  Famili- 
arity with  Moslem  valor,  politeness,  and  culture  re- 
moved the  prejudices  maintained  through  centuries 
of  priestcraft  and  ignorance  by  the  benighted  nations 
of  Europe.  Retiuning  pilgrims  and  adventurers 
brought  back  from  the  Holy  Land  tales  of  magnifi- 
cent cities,  of  incredible  treasures,  of  deeds  of  heroism 
and  chivalry,  which  had  no  counterparts  in  any  state 
of  Christendom.  Accoimts  of  these  marvels  awakened 
not  only  a  desire  to  imitate  them,  but  aroused  an  in- 
voluntary admiration  for  the  superiority  of  their  au- 
thors. At  the  time  of  the  first  Crusade,  in  the  closing 
years  of  the  eleventh  century,  Moorish  civilization  in 
the  Peninsula  had  attained  its  highest  perfection. 
While  its  infiuence  had  long  been  imperceptibly  ex- 
erted upon  the  populations  of  France  and  Italy,  deep- 


682  History  of  the 

seated  hatred  of  the  followers  of  Mohammed  had 
retarded  the  general  diffusion  of  its  benefits.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  repeated  expeditions  to  Palestine,  an 
increased  demand  for  the  manufactures  and  the  agri- 
cultural products  of  Moorish  Spam  was  created.  Its 
language,  its  improvisations,  its  literature,  soon  be- 
came familiar  to  Europe.  Even  its  sports  were 
borrowed,  and  the  graceful  courses  of  the  arena, 
adapted  to  the  rude  and  ferocious  tastes  of  baronial 
society,  became  the  most  popular  of  mediaeval  diver- 
sions. The  chivalric  sentiments  inseparable  from 
knightly  exercises  contributed  to  social  refinement  and 
to  the  exaltation  of  woman.  The  troubadour  carried 
everywhere  the  amatory  songs  which  had  long  en- 
chanted the  polished  society  of  Andalusia.  The 
coarseness  and  asperity  of  feudal  manners  were 
softened,  and  a  marked  improvement  characterized 
every  form  of  official  and  domestic  intercourse.  It 
is  beyond  the  Pyrenees,  and  not  to  the  Orient,  that  the 
historian  must  look  for  the  origin  of  modem  civili- 
zation. 

In  rapidity  of  conquest,  in  extent  of  dominion,  in 
successful  propagation  of  religious  belief,  in  ability 
to  profit  by  the  resources  of  Nature,  in  profundity  of 
knowledge  and  versatility  of  intellect,  no  people  have 
ever  approached  the  Arabs.  Their  conquests  were 
secured,  and  their  government  made  permanent,  by 
that  peculiar  provision  of  their  civil  polity  which,  ap- 
pealing to  the  strongest  of  hunian  passions  and  sanc- 
tioned by  the  injunctions  of  their  Prophet,  permitted 
the  appropriation  of  the  women  of  vanquished  na- 
tions. Their  commerce,  to  which  in  a  land  destitute 
of  agricultural  resources  they  were  impelled  by  neces- 
sity, developed  their  trading  propensities,  and  by  asso- 
ciation from  a  remote  age  with  their  enterprising 
neighbors,  the  Phoenicians,  familiarized  them  with 
the  men  of  all  races  and  the  products  of  all  countries; 


Moorish  Empibb  m  Eubofe  688 

enlarged  their  faculties;  sharpened  their  intellects; 
and  made  them  capable  of  becoming,  in  after  times, 
the  conquerors  and  the  lawgivers  of  the  world.  Pro- 
digious energy  and  aggressiveness  were  their  leading 
characteristics.  These  traits  were  intensified  by  vari- 
ous, sometimes  by  unworthy,  motives, — ^by  the  love  of 
pleasure,  the  thirst  of  avarice,  the  fire  of  ambition, — 
as  well  as  by  the  precepts  and  promises  of  a  religion 
congenial  to  their  tastes,  their  habits,  and  their  ex- 
cessively romantic  and  adventurous  nature.  Of  all 
the  dynasties  established  by  the  Successors  of  the 
Prophet,  that  of  the  Ommeyades  of  Spain  is  in- 
disputably entitled  to  the  most  exalted  rank. 

The  foundation  of  that  djmasty  marks  a  great 
epoch  in  the  history  of  Europe.  Of  its  noble  deeds, 
in  both  war  and  peace,  every  individual  of  Moslem 
faith  or  Arab  lineage  may  well  be  proud;  proud  of 
its  long  line  of  illustrious  princes;  proud  of  its  con- 
quests; proud  of  its  civilization,  which  surpassed  the 
splendors  of  Imperial  Rome,  and  whose  arts  modem 
science  has  found  it  impossible  to  successfully  imi- 
tate; proud  of  its  unequalled  agricultural  prosperity; 
proud  of  the  exquisite  beauty  of  its  edifices,  still  pre- 
eminently attractive  even  in  their  decay;  proud  of  its 
mighty  capital;  proud  of  its  academical  system,  with 
its  perfect  organization,  its  colleges,  its  lyceums,  its 
libraries;  proud  of  the  vast  attainments  of  its  schol- 
ars, its  surgeons,  its  chemists,  its  botanists,  its  astron- 
omers, its  mathematicians;  proud  of  the  theories  of 
its  philosophers,  which  for  a  thousand  years,  amidst 
the  incessant  fluctuations  of  human  opinion  and  the 
infinite  variations  of  religious  belief,  have  retained 
their  original  form,  and  are  accepted  as  correct  by 
the  most  enlightened  thinkers  of  the  present  age.  The 
destruction  of  this  wonderful  empire  was  an  event  of 
more  than  national  sfgnificance;  it  was  a  misfortune 
to  he  deplored  by  every  lover  of  learning  for  all 


684  HiSXOBY  OF  THE  MOORISH  EmPIBE 

coming  time.  For  evil  was  the  day  for  human 
progress  when  from  his  battlemented  walls  the  Moor 
looked  down  upon  the  signing  of  a  truce  craftily 
devised  for  the  betrayal  of  his  kindred;  evil  was  the 
day  when  upon  the  red  towers  of  the  Alhambra,  deco- 
rated by  the  emirs  with  profuse  and  unexampled  mag- 
nificence, and  which  for  seven  centuries  had  been  the 
stronghold  of  Moslem  power,  the  home  of  Moslem 
art,  were  raised  the  victorious  banners  of  the  Spanish 
monarchy,  suggestive,  it  is  true,  of  incredible  adiieve- 
ment,  of  undaunted  valor,  of  heroic  self-sacrifice,  of 
imperishable  renown,  yet  at  the  same  time  harbingers 
of  an  endless  train  of  national  calamities  which,  like 
avenging  and  relentless  furies,  stalked  unseen  in  the 
wake  of  the  exultant  conqueror. 


INDEX 


Abbeys  of  France  and  England^  their  extent  and  wealthy  iii.  851. 

Abd-al-Aziz^  first  Emir  of  Spain^  i.  267;  marries  widow  of  Rod- 
erick^ 269;  is  assassinated^  271. 

Abdallah  gains  crown  by  treachery^  i.  5S5;  character  of^  56l. 

Abd-al-Melik^  emir^  i.  806;  is  impaled,  817* 

Abd-al-Mumen,  ruler  of  the  Almohades,  ii.  259;  eonquers  Spain, 
287. 

Abd-al-Rahman-al-Ghafeki  conducts  retreat,  L  277;  becomes 
emir  and  is  deposed,  287;  is  again  raised  to  that  office,  292; 
attempts  conquest  of  France,  295;  defeated  and  killed  at 
Poitiers,  805. 

Abd-al-Rahman  I.,  his  early  career,  i.  884,  885;  escapes  to  the 
Desert,  885;  lands  in  Spain,  889;  conquers  the  Peninsula, 
898,  894;  his  death  and  character,  408-411. 

Abd-al-Rahman  II.,  ability  of,  i.  475;  receives  embassies  from 
the  East,  478,  479;  builds  a  navy,  491 ;  his  death,  494. 

Abd-al-Rahman  III.  ascends  the  throne,  i.  56$;  his  noble  quali- 
ties, 564;  subdues  the  rebels,  567;  death  of,  596;  his  fame, 
597;  domestic  policy  of,  605;  his  patronage  of  letters,  681. 

Abd-al-Rahman  IV.,  ii.  85 ;  his  independence,  98. 

Abd-al-Rahman  V.,  ii.  99' 

Abu-Abdallah,  the  Mahdi,  ii.  249;  character  of,  250. 

Abu-Bekr,  chief  of  Almoravides,  ii.  194;  deposed,  196. 

Abul-Hassan,  Sultan  of  Fez,  invades  Spain,  ii.  476. 

Abul-Kasim-Mohammed,  Kadi  of  Seville,  great  power  of,  IL  Il6; 
death  of,  140. 

Abu-Said  betrayed  by  Pedro  el  Cruel,  ii.  492. 

Africa,  innate  barbarism  of,  ii.. 88. 

Agriculture,  system  of  the  Arabs,  its  perfection,  iii.  599-601. 

Aguilar,  Alonso  de,  death  of,  iii.  250. 

Ajarquia,  rout  of,  ii.  562,  56S, 

Alarcos,  battle  of,  ii.  811. 

Albigenses,  rise  and  doctrines  of,  iii.  90;  crusade  against,  95,  96* 

Alfonso  I.,  King  of  Aragon,  raid  of,  ii.  268,  264;  defeated  and 
killed  at  Fraga,  269- 


686  Index 

Alfonso  I.^  King  of  the  Astnrias^  i.  857;  hiB  ezpeditionfy  $59;  bif 
deaths  861. 

Alfonso  1 11.^  exploits  of,  i.  582. 

Alfonso  VI.^  reforms  of^  ii.  162;  prowess  of,  188;  enters  Toledo, 
185. 

Alfonso  VIII.  wins  battle  of  Las  Navas,  iL  881. 

Alfonso  X.,  great  talents  of,  iL  441;  literary  works,  448;  his 
death,  444. 

Alfonso  XI.,  death  of,  before  Gibraltar,  ii.  488. 

Al-Hakem  I.  ascends  the  throne,  i.  440;  defeats  his  nndes,  448, 
444;  qnells  rebellion  of  southern  suburb,  466;  his  suffer- 
ings and  death,  474. 

Al-Hakem  II.,  accession  of,  i.  686,  687;  character  of,  668;  his 
love  of  learning,  670;  his  great  library,  672;  his  emdition, 
678;  attempts  at  reform,  676;  public  works,  677. 

Alhambra,  origin  of,  i.  547 ;  magnificence,  iL  525 ;  gardens,  529* 

Alhandega,  battle  of,  i.  588. 

Al-Haytham-Ibn-Obeyd  appointed  emir  by  the  Khalif,  L  290. 

Al-Horr  appointed  emir  by  the  Viceroy  of  Africa,  L  272. 

Ali,  ruler  of  Spain,  ii.  87 ;  his  severe  measures,  89,  90 ;  his  death, 
9S. 

Al-Maghreb,  its  extent  and  fertility,  i.  184;  invasion  of,  by 
Abdallah,  188;  by  Ibn  Hajij,  141;  is  conquered  by  Okbah, 
148;  is  invaded  by  Hassan,  145;  is  finally  subjugated  by 
Musa,  162. 

Al-Mansur — see  Ibn-abi-Amir. 

Almohades,  rise  of,  ii.  255. 

Al-Mondhir,  character  of,  i.  5SS;  is  poisoned,  SS5. 

Almoravides,  origin  of,  ii.  191;  they  conquer  Africa,  194;  tbeir 
immense  empire,  289. 

Al-Morthada,  iL  91. 

Al-Nazer,  King  of  Granada,  ii.  454. 

Al-Samh,  Emir,  i.  278;  invades  France,  276;  is  killed,  277. 

Al-Zagal  defeats  Christians,  ii.  568 ;  becomes  king,  591 ;  abdica- 
tion of,  664. 

Al-Zarkal,  clepsydra  of,  iL  164;  quadrant  of,  iiL  485;  suggests 
elliptical  orbit,  477. 

Amulets  of  Arabs,  i.  86. 

Anbasah-Ibn-Sohim  succeeds  Abd-al-Rahman,  L  287;  his  sever- 
ity, 288;   invades  Septimania,  290. 

Arabia,  topography  of,  i.  1 ;  dearth  of  history,  4;  visited  by  Phoe- 
nicians, 5;  its  great  wealth,  7;  exemption  from  foreign 
influence,  10. 


Index  687 

Arabs^  their  prominence  in  antiqiiity^  i.  16;  their  energy^  16; 
predatory  instincts  predominant^  16;  influence  of  the  sheik^ 
19;  difference  from  other  pastoral  nations,  19;  blood  re- 
venge, 25;  habits  of  life,  27,  28;  treatment  of  woman,  28; 
idolatry,  SO;  relationship  with  Jews,  82;  trade  of,  $9; 
wonderful  career  of  the  race,  54;  rebel  after  death  of  Mo- 
hammed, 128. 

Architecture  under  the  Moors  of  Spain,  iii.  537-540. 

Art,  absence  of,  in  Arabia,  iii.  535. 

Asturias,  foundation  of  the  kingdom  of,  i.  341. 

Aurora,  sultana,  intrigues  with  Ibn-abi-Amir,  i.  691 ;  opposes  the 
latter,  735. 

Averroes,  iii.  473-475. 

Ayub-Ibn-Habib,  provisional  emir,  i.  271;  is  deposed  by  the 
Khalif,  272. 

B 

Badis,  King  of  Granada,  ii.  134. 

Balj-Ibn-Beshr  besieged  in  Ceuta,  i.  314;  relieved  by  Abd-al- 
Mdik,  316;  seizes  authority,  3 1 7. 

Barcelona  taken  by  the  Franks,  i.  450. 

Baths,  iii.  643 ;  luxury  of,  644. 

Baza,  siege  of,  ii.  651 ;  capitulation  of,  663. 

Bedouins,  life  and  character  of,  i.  17. 

Beni-Khaldun,  clan  of,  i.  552. 

Berbers,  origin  and  characteristics  of,  i.  136;  language  and  gov- 
ernment, 137,  138;  oppressed  by  Arabs,  313,  325. 

Bermudo,  King  of  Leon,  renders  homage  to  Al-Mansur,  L  727. 

Bemhart,  count  of  Barcelona,  killed,  i.  492. 

B6ziers,  destruction  of,  iii.  98. 

Biscay,  its  ruggedness  and  severe  climate,  i.  338. 

Black  Stone  of  Kaaba,  i.  35. 

Boabdil  taken  prisoner  at  Lucena,  iL'568;  released,  572;  his 
worthless  character,  594. 

Botany  of  Spanish  Moslems,  iii.  486,  487. 

Byzantine  Empire,  condition  of,  after  barbarian  conquest,  i.  70; 
its  society  and  its  policy,  iii.  370-372;  degradation  of  all 
classes,  381,  382. 


Calligraphy,  skm  in,  iii.  590. 

Carmona  taken  by  Arabs,  L  235;    its  siege  raised  by  Abd-al- 
Bahman  I.,  400. 


688  Inhex 

Carihage^  the  andent  dty,  iti  origin  and  Mpheuiat,  L  147^  148; 

trade^  148;  religion^  151;  bnildingi,  152;  the  Megan,  152; 

the  Roman  city^  its  arta^  its  learnings  and  its  vices,  158; 

stonned  by  Hassan,  154. 
Castrogiovanni,  first  attack  on,  iL  18;  snrprised  by  Moslems,  29* 
Chakya,  the  impostor^  rebels  against  Abd-al-Rahman  I.,  L  401 ; 

his  defeat  and  death,  402. 
Charlemagne  invades  Spain,  L  405. 
Charles  Martel,  character  of,  L  802;  hated  by  the  clergy,  80S; 

invades  Provence,  809- 
Chemistry,  its  great  progress  in  the  Peninsula^  iii.  490-492. 
Chess^  game  of,  introduced  by  the  Arabs,  iii.  661,  662. 
Christian  tributaries  of  the  Moors,  iiL  188;    their  tribute  and 

their  privileges,  184,  185;   disabilities  of,  186,  189;   perse- 
cution of,  by  the  khalifs,  204-206. 
Christianity  made  no  progress  in  Arabia,  L  41. 
Church,  condition  of,  before  Mohammed,  L  66. 
Cid,  rise  of,  ii.  160;  character  and  career  of,  220;  valor  of,  224; 

duplicity  of,  226;  takes  Valencia,  285;  horrors  of  the  siege, 

286;   his  death,  287. 
Civil  organization  of  the  Arabs,  iii.  688. 
Clergy,  influence  of,  among  the  Visigoths,  i.  175;   their  luxury, 

194,211;  increasingpower  of,  ii.  420;  wealth  of,  422. 
Commerce,  its  great  extent  under  the  Moors,  iii.  616-619- 
Cordova,  beauty  and  wealth  of,  under  the  Onmieyades,  L  6l8, 619; 

suburbs  of,  622;  taken  by  Ferdinand  III.,  ii.  866. 
Count  Julian  resents  outrage  on  his  daughter,  1.  221;    enters 

Spain,  224;  retires  to  Ceuta,  259- 
Covadonga,  battle  of,  L  850. 


Damascus,  beauty  and  wealth  of  city,  L  870-^72. 
Dances  derived  from  the  Orient,  iii  66S. 
De  Hauteville,  House  of,  ii.  54. 

E 

Edrisi,  geography  of,  ii.  71* 

Egilona,  queen  of  Roderick,  captured  at  Merida,  i.  246;  marries 

Abd-al-Aziz,  269- 
Egisa,  his  tyranny,  i.  216. 

Egypt,  effect  of  its  civilization  on  the  Arabs,  L  182. 
Elvira,  foundation  and  wars  of,  L  542-549;   surrenders  to  Abd* 

al-Rahman  III.,  567. 


Index  680 


Emirate,  disorderf  of,  i.  322. 

Equestrian  sports,  their  magnificence,  iii.  491^  498. 

Ervigios,  reign  and  death  of,  L  814. 


Fatimites  of  Africa,  L  580;  remove  capital  to  Egypt^  646. 

Favila,  King  of  Asturias,  i.  856. 

Fayic  and  Djandar,  eunuchs,  conspiracy  of,  i.  697. 

Ferdinand  Gonzalez,  Count  of  Castile,  his  character,  i.  589; 
power  and  exploits  of,  608,  604. 

Ferdinand  III.,  character  of,  ii.  41 6. 

Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  character  of,  ii.  589;  defeated  at  Loja, 
559. 

Festivals,  iii.  667-669. 

Force,  worship  of,  by  man,  i.  121. 

Forum  Judicum,  i.  178;  procedure  it  enjoins,  179>  180;  founda- 
tion of  modem  jurisprudence,  181;  precepts,  185-189. 

France,  South  of,  its  traditions  and  civilization,  iii.  6l ;  literary 
and  social  condition,  64,  65» 

Franks,  the  character  and  institutions  of,  i.  800. 

Fraxinet,  colony  of,  i.  602. 

Frederick  II.,  Emperor,  first  defiance  of  the  Pope,  iii.  81,  S8;  his 
genius,  $5;  laws  of,  $6;  commercial  regulations  instituted 
by,  89;  his  intimacy  with  the  Moslems,  89;  his  power  and 
dignity,  54;  his  character,  56-59* 

O 

Galera,  siege  of,  iiL  287* 

Garcia,  King  of  Leon,  i.  575. 

Gerbert,  his  origin,  iii.  488 ;  educated  at  Cordova,  484,  485. 

Ghalib  subdues  Africans,  i.  649;    feud  with  Ibn-abi-Amir,  719, 

720. 
Giralda,  construction  of,  ii.  816. 

Gothic  March,  i.  446,  447;   conquered  by  the  Franks,  448. 
Granada  (city),  siege  and  capture  of,  ii.  677,  688. 
Granada  (kingdom),  dawning  greatness  of,  ii.   181;    taken  by 

Almoravides,  214;    condition  of,  in  fifteenth  century,  518, 

514;  palaces  of,  525. 
Guadalete,  battle  of,  L  280. 

H 

Hamet-al-Zegri,  raid  of,  ii.  574;  severity  of,  684;  sold  as  a  slave, 

641. 
Hanrani,  Syrian  physician,  i.  502. 
Vol.  III.- 


690  Index 

Haschim,  vizier  of  Mohammed^  defeated  by  the  ChristiaiiB,  L  519« 
Hasdai^  ambaMador  of  the  Khalif,  L  598;  cores  Sancho  the  Fat, 

595. 
Hegira,  i.  88. 
Hischem  I.,  Emir,  i.  421;    hia  character,  422;    war  with  his 

uncles,^ 425;  his  armies  invade  France,  429;  his  death,  489. 
Hischem  II.  kept  in  tutelage,  i.  716;   severe  restraints  imposed 

on  him,  717;  disappearance  of,  76l. 
Hischem  III.,  iL  71 ;  death  of,  at  Saragossa,  108. 
Hmnan  sacrifices  of  Arabs,  i.  87. 


Iberians,  their  rudeness  and  ignorance,  i.  889,  840. 

Ibn-Abbas,  minister  of  Zohair,  ii.  129* 

Ibn-abi-Abda  invades  Leon  and  is  defeated,  i.  576,  577. 

Ibn-abi-Amir  sent  on  mission  to  Africa,  i.  649;  his  boast  in  the 
garden,  686;  early  career  of,  688,  689;  conduct  of,  in 
Africa,  698,  694;  becomes  vizier,  701;  appointed  ha  jib, 
707;  bums  books  of  the  library,  710;  reorganizes  the  army, 
711 ;  becomes  ruler  of  Moorish  Spain,  720;  his  campaigns, 
728,  724;  named  Al-Mansur^  724;  his  invasion  of  Galicia, 
788;  his  death,  744;   his  character,  744,  745. 

Ibn-Abu,  death  of,  iii.  801. 

Ibn-al-Awam,  bontanical  work  of,  iii.  607. 

Ibn-Djahwar,  rise  of,  ii.  106;   great  talents  of,  112. 

Ibn-Forat,  Kadi  of  Tunis,  invades  Sicily,  ii.  12;  his  death,  17. 

Ibn-Habib,  Viceroy  of  Africa,  pursues  Abd-al-Rahman,  L  887. 

Ibn-Hud,  family  of,  ii.  115. 

Ibn-Kenun,  his  revolt,  i.  647;  defeats  Al-Hakem,  647;  takcB  to 
Cordova,  651 ;  put  to  death,  780. 

Ibn-Shobeyd,  wealth  of,  i.  615. 

Improvisation  prized  by  Arabs,  i.  50. 

Industrial  arts  in  Spain,  iii.  575—577. 

Innocent  III.,  ability  of,  ii.  80. 

Interdict,  its  terrors,  iii.  SS5. 

Irrigation  in  Moorish  Spain,  iii.  601,  602. 

Isabella,  character  of,  ii.  589;  her  popularity,  enters  the  camp 
before  Malaga,  682;  aids  army  before  Baza,  661. 

Islam,  its  unprecedented  career,  i.  6l,  68;  slow  progress  of,  when 
first  promulgated,  86;  its  meaning,  118;  duties  enjoined  by 
it,  114, 115;  the  benefits  it  conferred  on  the  Arabs,  116,  117; 
its  grand  achievements,  125. 

Ismail  I.,  King  of  Granada,  ii.  459* 


Ikdxx  691 


Jaime  I.  of  Aragon,  ii.  351 ;  character  of^  394i,  $95. 

Jews,  persccntioii  of,  by  Visigoths,  i.  173;  influence  of,  on  dvill- 
sation,  iii.  105,  106;  early  commerce  of,  109;  i  prejadice 
against,  in  antiquity,  113;  prosperity  and  power  of,  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  118,  119;  good  influence  of,  in  Sptun,  127; 
great  scholars,  141;  the  depositaries  of  mediieval  culture, 
149;  expulsion  from  Spain  and  Portugal,  171^  174. 

John  de  Gorsa,  ambassador  of  the  German  Emperor,  i.  600. 

Junquera,  battle  of,  i.  583. 


Kadir,  ruler  of  Toledo,  u.  179;  expelled,  184. 

Kahtanites,  feud  with  Maadites,  i.  278;  its  duration  and  intensity, 

279,  280. 
Eairoan  founded  by  Okbah,  i.  143. 
Khadijah  marries  Mohanmied,  i.  84. 
Khairan,  governor  of  Malaga,  ally  of  Ali,  ii.  87. 
Khalifs,  general  character  of,  ii.  596. 
Koceila  conspires  against  Okbah,  i.  144;  is  killed,  144. 
Koran,  its  origin,  i.  104;  its  contents,  106;   allegorical  imagery, 

108;   benign  precepts,  109* 
Kordsh,  guardians  of  temple  of  Mecca,  i.  81. 


Las  Navas  de  Tolosa,  battle  of,  ii.  331. 
Leon  taken  by  Al-Mansur,  i.  732. 
Libraries  of  the  Arabs,  iii.  470. 
Literature  of  the  Arabs,  iii.  457-460. 
Loja  carried  by  storm,  ii.  600. 
Love,  Courts  of,  iii.  80. 
Lucera,  Saracen  colony  of,  iii.  52. 

M 

Magic  of  the  Arabs,  i.  36. 

Maimonides,  iii.  142;  his  learning  and  his  works,  143,  144. 

Majorca  taken  by  the  Aragonese,  ii.  322. 

Malaga,  city  of,  its  wealth  and  prosperity,  ii.  6l8;  manufactures, 

619 ;  siege  of,  625;  surrender  of,  641. 
Malik-Ibn-Anas,  sect  of,  i.  435. 
Manufactures,  iii.  622-625. 


602  Ikdex 

Marquis  of  Cadiz  takes  Alhama^  ii.  547>  548. 

Mecca^  its  situation  and  climate^  i.  89;  conquest  hy  Moham- 
med, 90. 

Medicine,  its  advancement  and  perfection  among  the  Spanish 
Arabs,  iii.  511-516. 

Medina-al-Zahra,  origin  of,  i.  625;  extent  and  magnificence,  626; 
pavilion,  628 ;  destroyed  hj  the  Berbers,  758. 

Mendoza,  Cardinal,  his  greatness  and  character,  iiL  284,  287- 

Merida,  its  splendid  monuments,  i.  244;  taken  by  Mnsa,  245. 

Moallakat,  i.  46,  49. 

Mohanmied-al-Ahmar  pays  homage  to  Ferdinand,  ii.  404. 

Mohammed,  birth  and  childhood  of,  i.  82,  84;  marriage  of,  84; 
his  hallucinations,  85;  death,  91;  character,  92;  distrust 
of  himself,  96;   his  personal  appearance  and  manners,  98. 

Mohammed,  eldest  son  of  Abd-al-Rahman  II.,  i.  501,  508;  ob- 
tains the  emirate,  505-507;   his  zeal,  508;    death  of,  525. 

Mohammed  II.,  King  of  Granada,  ii.  486. 

Mohammed  III.  deposed,  ii.  450. 

Mohammed  IV.  ascends  the  throne,  ii.  459- 

Mohammed  V.,  his  love  of  peace,  ii.  487. 

Mohammed  VI.  visits  Toledo,  ii.  496. 

Mohammed  VII.,  pride  of,  ii.  508.* 

Monasticism,  wealth  of,  iii.  851,  S65;  its  corruption,  849. 

Monastic  life,  its  pomp  and  luxury,  iii.  864. 

Montfort,  Earl  of  Leicester,  his  character,  iii.  96. 

Montpellier,  University  of,  iL  76;  high  attainments  of  its  pro- 
fessors, 78,  79- 

Moriscoes,  persecution  of,  by  Ximenes,  iii.  242,  248;  banished  to 
Leon  and  Castile,  244;  attempted  reform  of,  259;  their 
property  confiscated,  266;  rebellion  of,  268;  exiled  from 
Granada,  277;  chased  through  the  mountains,  299;  final 
expulsion  from  the  Peninstila,  818,  819* 

Moshafi,  vizier  of  Al-Hakem  II.,  i.  651;  rivalry  with  Ibn-abi- 
Amir,  707;  ruin  and  death  of,  708. 

Mosque  of  Cordova  founded  by  Abd-al-Rahman  I.,  i.  414,  415, 
654 ;  minaret,  665 ;  description  of,  657-667. 

Motadhid,  Prince  of  Seville,  talents  and  vices  of,  ii.  141,  142. 

Motamid  ascends  the  throne  of  Seville,  ii.  168. 

Muley  Hassan,  enmity  of,  to  the  Christians,  ii.  505;  domestic 
troubles  of,  542,  552;  death  of,  688. 

Musa-Ibn-Nosseyr,  his  origin,  i.  157;  appointed  general  in 
.  Africa,  158;  his  character,  158,  159;  builds  and  equips  a 
fleet,  l6l;  enters  Spain,  248;  his  return  through  Africa, 
258;  his  punishment  and  death,  256,  257. 


Index  698 

Musenm  of  Alexandria^  iii.  437-440. 
^Mtt8ic>  popularity  of^  among  the  Moors^  iii.  664-666. 

N 

Naples^  University  of^  iii.  44. 

Narbonnese  Gaul^  known  as  "  The  Great  Land/'  L  272. 
Normans  invade  ]?eninsula^  i.  489^  490,  516;  character  of,  ii.  54; 
conquer  Sicily,  55;  adopt  Moslem  customs,  iii.  16-18. 


Okbah  Ibn-al-Hejaj,  Emir,  i.  807;  his  discipline,  808. 

Okhad,  fair  of,  i.  53. 

Omar-Ibn-Hafsun,  rise  of,  i.   521;    his  antecedents,  522;    his 

stronghold  at  Bobastro,  522;  dupUcity  of,  540;  defeated  at 

Aguilar,  558;   death  of,  577. 
Ommeyades,  origin  of,  i.  867;    profligacy  of  the  S3rrians,  875, 

876,  879. 
Ordofio  IV.  visits  court  of  Cordova,  i.  640;    his  baseness,  641, 

642. 
Othman-Ibn-Abu-Nesa,  Emir,  i.  291;    governor  of  Gijon,  848, 

S55. 


Palermo  taken  by  the  Moslems,  ii.  21 ;  reduced  by  the  Normans, 

56;    luxury  of,  under  the  Moors  and  the  Normans,  66; 

beauty  of  the  city,  67. 
Pampeluna  destroyed  by  Abd-al-Rahman  I.,  i.  585. 
Papacy,  corruption  of,  iii.  827,  828. 
Paraclete,  tradition  of,  i.  77. 
Pedro  el  Cruel  ascends  throne  of  Castile,  ii.  487. 
Pelayus,  his  origin,  i.  844;    organizes  an  army,  845;    becomes 

king,  854. 
Phallicism  of  Arabs,  i.  84. 
Phoenicians,  their  trade  in  Arabia,  L  8. 
Poetry  of  ancient  Arabs,  i.  48-46;    great  influence  of  the  poet, 

51 ;  his  license,  51 ;   that  of  the  Spanish  Moslems,  iii.  448- 

450. 
Poitiers,  battle  of,  i.  805. 
Polygamy  of  Arabs,  i.  28;   its  universal  practice  in  the  Orient, 

102. 
Pope  Joan,  story  of,  iii.  880,  881. 
Popes,  character  of,  iii.  882,  888. 


694  Index 

Population  of  Moorish  Spain^  L  618;  its  great  cities^  614. 
Pottery^  perfection  in,  attained  by  Moors,  iiL  5S5,  586. 
Public  works  of  the  Moors,  i.  614,  618. 
Pulgar,  exploit  of,  il.  676. 

Q 

Quadros,  ii.  449* 

Quesada  taken  by  Sancho  el  Bravo,  ii.  447. 

R 

Redwan  Venegas,  commander  in  fight  of  the  Ajarquia,  iL  568. 

Revenues  of  the  khalifs,  i.  614. 

Roderick,  accession  of,  i.  219;  his  character,  220;  violates  daii|^ 

ter  of  Count  Julian,  221. 
Roncesvalles,  rout  of,  i.  406. 
Rusafah,  garden  of,  i.  412,  624. 


Saba,  i.  7;  its  ancient  civilisation,  8. 

Salado,  battle  of  the,  ii.  481. 

Salerno,  Medical  School  of,  iii.  45 ;  its  contributions  to  medicine 

and  surgery,  46,  47. 
Samuel,  Rabbi  of  Granada,  learning  and  power  of  ,  ii.  181. 
Sancho-el-Bravo,  King  of  Castile,  ii,  445. 
Sancho  the  Fat,  i.  592;  visits  Cordova,  594. 
Santiago  destroyed  by  Al-Mansur,  i.  740. 
Saragossa  taken  by  Musa,  i.  249;  under  the  Beni-Hud,  iiL  448. 
Science  in  Arabian  Spain,  iii.  476,  477- 
Science,  its  achievements,  iii.  527-580. 
Seigniorial  rights,  iii.  887,  888. 
Septimania,  its  origin  and  extent,  i.  274,  275. 
Serfs,  condition  of,  in  Europe,  iii.  895,  896 ;  degradation  of,  897* 
Seville  captured  by  Musa,  i.  244;    surrenders  to  Ferdinand,  iL 

411. 
Sicily,  great  natural  advantages  of,  iL  1 ;  classic  traditions  of,  2; 

condition  of,  at  time  of  Moorish  invasion,  7;  invasion  of,  by 

Moslems,  9>  10;  mixed  population  of,  62;  scientific  progress 

of  its  people,  69- 
Sidi-Yahya,  treason  of,  ii.  498. 
Silk  manufacture,  iii.  625. 

Sisebert,  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  heads  conspiracy,  i.  215. 
Slaves,  caste  of,  i.  606;  power  and  influence  of,  607. 
Social  life  of  the  Hispano-Arab,  iiL  652,  65S. 


Index  690 

Spain,  condition  of,  under  the  khalifa,  i.  614-616. 

St.  James  the  Apostle,  legend  of,  i.  471. 

Stneco,  iii.  549. 

Suleyman,  Khalif,  his  character,  ii.  85. 

Sword  venerated  in  Arabia,  i.  94;    importance  of,  among  the 

Arabs,  iii.  580,  581. 
Syracuse,  first  siege  of,  by  the  Moors,  ii.  18;   stormed  by  them, 

88-40. 


Talavera,  Archbishop  of  Granada,  his  character,  iii.  240.  •^ 

Tarik  invades  Spain,  i.  225;   marches  northward,  287;   quarrels  *  ^^ 

with  Musa,  248.  •      ^ 

Tarub,  treachery  of,  i.  501. 

Taxation  of  tributaries,  i.  260. 

Tendilla,  Count  of,  Captain-General  of  Granada,  iii.  240. 

Textile  fabrics,  iU.  627. 

Thalaba  raised  to  power,  i.  818;  his  cruelty,  818. 

Theodomir  surrenders  Murcia  to  the  Arabs,  i.  247. 

Theology  in  Arabian  Spain,  iii.  460. 

Toledo,  its  strength  and  antiquity,  i.  288;   massacre  of  its  citi- 
zens by  Al-Hakem,  460;  becomes  independent,  518. 

Tota,  Queen  of  Navarre,  her  ability,  i.  592;  visits  Cordova,  594. 

Tribunal  of  the  Waters,  iiL  602,  608. 

Troubadours,  influence  of,  iii.  82,  88. 

U 

Ubeda  sacked  by  the  Christians,  ii.  840. 

Utrera,  Gomez-Mendez,  governor  of,  killed  in  the  Ajarquia,  ii. 
568. 


Valencia  taken  by  Jaime,  ii.  882;  expulsion  of  Moors  from,  iiL 
814. 

Vases  of  the  Hispano-Arabs,  iii.  585. 

Visigoths,  origin  and  migrations  of,  i.  166,  167;  constitution  and 
government,  169,  170;  councils,  171;  churches,  195;  arts, 
196;  manufactures,  196;  medicine,  197;  dress,  199;  profli- 
gacy, 227;  causes  of  the  decline  of  their  power,  268. 

W 

Wadhih,  governor  of  Cordova,  i.  759. 

Water,  symbolic  use  of,  among  Oriental  nations,  iiL  578,  574. 


/ 


696  Index 

Witixa  becomes  king^  i.  217;   l^  wise  measures,  218;    his  ex- 
cesses, 219. 
Women  mider  the  Arabs,  iii.  446,  447;  privileges  of,  655-657. 


Xativa,  prosperity  of,  u.  887;  besieged  by  Jaime,  889;  snrrender 

of,  891. 
Ximenes,  Cardinal,  character  and  origin  of,  iiL  285,  286;   boms 

Arabic  manuscripts  at  Granada,  248. 


Yahya,  faqni,  leads  a  rebellion,  i.  465;  becomes  a  favorite  of 
Abd-al-Rahman  II.,  468. 

Yahya-Ibn-Salmah,  Emir,  i.  291. 

Yaknb-al-Mansur  invades  Andalusia,  ii.  807;  death  of,  814. 

Yusnf-al-Fehri,  Emir,  i.  820;  abdicates,  894;  is  killed,  896. 

Ynsuf,  King  of  Granada,  at  the  battle  of  Salado,  ii.  480;  char- 
acter of,  484. 

Yosnf,  Sultan  of  Almohades,  ii.  299;  public  works  of,  at  Seville, 
801 ;  is  killed  near  Lisbon,  804. 

Yusuf,  the  Almoravide,  invades  Spain,  ii.  199;  death  and  charac- 
ter of,  241. 

Z 

Zahira  founded  by  Al-Mansur,  i.  717. 

Zaid,  wali  of  Barcelona,  his  heroic  defence,  i.  449. 

Zallaca,  battle  of,  ii.  204. 

Zamora  stormed  by  the  Moors,  i.  782. 

Zeyd-Ibn-Kesade  overruns  Andalusia,  i.  288. 

Ziadet- Allah,  Sultan  of  Africa,  ii.  10. 

Ziryab,  the  musician,  i.  496;  his  versatility,  497. 

Ziyad-Ibn-Aflah,  prefect,  aids  conspiracy,  i.  709. 

Zobeir,  Ibn-al-,  his  success  during  the  invasion  of  Africa,  L  140. 

Zonaria,  Hebrew  prophet,  i.  289. 


END  OF  VOLUME  HI. 


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